Greetings Birders- I wanted to pass this information along to those who may be interested in rare bird sightings in NW Ohio this last week and/or for record keeping purposes. On Saturday, May 4, 2013, David True, a refuge ranger from Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, spotted a beautiful plumage male RUFF at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge's Blausey Unit during a FREE field trip that ONWR was running to this restricted access wetland near the Touissant River. Christopher Taylor and Ken Schmidt gave me permission to share their awesome photos of the Ruff on Toledo's Rarebird.org forum. http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7443&title=ruff-mississippi-kites-nw-ohio ONWR ran free bus trips all week to Cedar Point NWR and to their surrounding wetlands that are typically closed to the public. Thank you Ottawa NWR!! If you were fortunate to snag a spot on one of these free bus trips, you may have been one of the lucky ones to see some of the awesome birds that have been visiting these restored wetlands this May. Ottawa NWR has worked hard on restoring and/or maintaining the marshes, wetlands, and shorelines of Lake Erie with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant. When you take a moment to view a gorgeous male Ruff in your spotting scope, you can't help but appreciate the efforts of the land managers at Ottawa NWR & The Nature Conservancy for providing habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species! It is obvious that the folks at the refuge care about birds. Not only are they providing and improving the habitat for the birds, they were giving us birders a chance to explore it FREE!! It doesn't get any better than that, folks, especially when the rare, threatened, and endangered species utilize the habitat! I led a few of those bus trips and I know we had bus loads of very happy birders! Cameron Cox's bus trip to Cedar Point on Friday, May 10, had 25 species of warblers and 108 species total in the four hours they were there including three Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Yellow-throated Warbler, and a Clay-colored Sparrow. Other birds spotted these last few weeks at Cedar Point NWR & surrounding OWNR wetlands included - (2) Eurasian Wigeons, (1) Eared Grebe, (8) American White Pelicans, (1) Piping Plover, (2) Black-necked Stilts, (55) American Avocets, (1) Ruff, (1) Franklin's Gull, (1) Black Tern - (32) at ONWR yesterday on the auto tour), (1) Worm-eating Warbler, (1) Clay-colored Sparrow, and (1) Blue Grosbeak. <--- Now that is one heck of a list!! Magee Marsh rocks for colorful warblers in May, but you can't deny that a male Ruff and the long pink bubble gum colored legs of a Black-necked Stilt make great eye candy for birders as well!! Don't miss signing up for these trips next May. And in my hometown, Oregon, Ohio... On Monday, May 6, 2013, Lee Adams from Virginia visited Pearson Park in Oregon on her own. Much to her surprise, she spotted two MISSISSIPPI KITES (her nemesis bird in Virginia) flying overhead and was able to get decent photos of one of them in flight. Later on, she showed her photos to Sam Woods, of Tropical Birding, who confirmed her bird in the photo was indeed a Mississippi Kite!! They were reported to eBird shortly after. I ran into Lee at Magee later in the week and asked her if I could share her photos on Toledo's Rarebird.org forum. Thank you Lee!! A big thanks to the Ohio Division of Wildlife at the front of the boardwalk this year with their table of birding info, maps, checklists, and multicolor OOS spring warbler guides. Great to see you there representing Magee Marsh, one of the best places to bird in the country during spring migration!! The officers/staff were friendly and helpful and I was super impressed at their knowledge of birds. May in Northwest Ohio Rocks! Good Birding! Sherrie Duris Vice President Toledo Naturalists' Association www.toledonaturalist.org OHIO RARE BIRD ALERT Facebook Group Administrator https://www.facebook.com/groups/OHIORAREBIRDALERT ______________________________________________________________________ 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]