Spent an hour and a half at the Cassin's sparrow site in Shelby County this morning, and have some suggestions that might be of help to seekers. Troy Shively called me between 6 and 630 this morning from the site. He had arrived soon after dawn, and he had the bird singing/skylarking at a rate of once every fifteen seconds, as well as repeatedly perching on the orange & white posts along the north side of Kaser; this activity took place quite early and mostly ~200 yards west of Lindsey. Things were different for us at 8:30. Jay Lehman and John Lennon were there, having seen the bird skylarking and singing at increasingly less frequent intervals as the morning continued. Bob Conlon and I spent an hour and a half seeking, and during that time I saw the bird only five times (four times in distant brief skylarking--actually it didn't ascend more than 10-15 feet), and heard it sing maybe ten times. Eventually it magically appeared and sang on the dead tree where Kaser ends at Lindsey, following a period of over half an hour during which it was not seen, and heard only once. Three others--two of them Michigan's most notoriously successful 'poachers' of Ohio's rare birds--witnessed all this as well. I go into this detail in hopes that it's typical, and will be of help to folks who want to see this bird. It seems most active at first light, and at least during the time we were there became less and less so. Still, if you have time, you can assure yourself of its identity by viewing its behavior and hearing its song---often at a considerable distance---throughout the day. Troy told me the bird had not been anyway near as demonstrative late yesterday as it was early today; yesterday it was last seen about 710 pm. So, unless you have plenty of time, I would advise going at dawn. Troy said the sparrow perched on the orange posts often during this period. Otherwise views in flight are brief, though the song is distinctive (there are plenty of grasshopper sparrows, vesper sparrows, and horned larks). It is devilishly hard to find on the ground, and sneaked off on us every time; at times we'd hear it unexpectedly far from where it seemed to have touched down, often enough causing us to wonder aloud if there might be two birds. If you really feel you must have photos--remember there are already a zillion great free photos of this species on the Web--be aware that it can be spooked by flash (as it was this morning), or of course by too close an approach; diagnostic images have already been obtained for the record-book. Good luck to all, Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]