I was up in Northwest Ohio this weekend and it ended up being some pretty good birding. First the highlights for today: black-necked stilt, upland sandpiper, tricolored heron, cattle egret, yellow-headed blackbird, and Brewer's blackbird. I started at Metzger Marsh first thing this morning. The CATTLE EGRET was not near the marina area on the way in, but it was there when I was leaving. Along the roadway there were four pairs of common moorhens close in to the roadway. At the parking lot I watched the lake a few minutes and saw a TRICOLORED HERON fly in from the west. It flew east of the woods at the parking lot and I lost sight of it and was unable to relocate it. Along Krause Road I had an UPLAND SANDPIPER near the Grim Wildlife Area. It was on top of a telephone pole about a 100 yards east of the parking lot. About halfway down Krause Road I had a flock of blackbirds that included a male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. It was flying to the northeast about halfway down Krause Road. The bird trail was a little slow. Most of the birds were in the eastern half on the backside. the only warblers were a few yellow-rumped, 2 yellow and two palms. One of the palms was a brilliantly colored "yellow" palm warbler. It was chasing a second palm, but I was unable to see whether it was a yellow palm or not. There were at least three brown thrashers on the trail and a single black-capped chickadee amongst the other more common migrants. The BLACK-NECKED STILT was on Benton Carroll Road just south of Route 2. It was very close to the road and posed nicely for photos. After taking Benton-Carroll Road south to the first turn off, Zenzer Road, I found two snowy egrets in a small wetland north of Zenzer. On Lemon Road there was a flock of 25 or so American golden plovers. Also along Lemon just south of Route 2 there were three BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, two females and a male. There were a few more shorebirds around today compared to yesterday, although I saw only greater and lesser yellowlegs and a few pectorals and snipe. Yesterday there were a ton of birds moving, although I didn't see as many good ones. Yesterday there was an orange-crowned warbler sand a veery on the bird trail. We had a single sandhill crane pass by the Ottawa Refuge parking lot. At the entrance road to Metzger we had a kettle of 80+ broad-winged hawks. I also had a couple lark sparrows at Oak Openings at the usual Girdham and Reed location. John Pogacnik 4765 Lockwood Road Perry, OH 44081 (440) 259-2751 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]