In n.w. Ohio, the estuary of Crane Creek (on Ottawa NWR, accessed by trail from the n.w. corner of the Magee boardwalk parking lot) has mostly had high water this season, limiting the amount of shorebird habitat there. Southwest winds push the water out, creating a larger area of mudflats and shallow water. With strong SW winds this morning, I walked out there and spent a while scoping the flats, and found shorebirds in good variety (15 species) but fairly small numbers. The most notable were three Hudsonian Godwits. These were VERY distant, and at first I picked them out only because they were larger, grayer, and paler than some nearby dowitchers, with different feeding behavior. I still would have put them down as "probable" Hudsonians except that they eventually flew a short distance, showing the black wing-linings. They were too distant for me to tell whether they were adults or juveniles; looking at the overall migratory path of the species, we're almost a month past the early push of adults, but numbers of juveniles aren't likely to pick up until a little later in September. Regardless, the Crane Creek estuary may be the single best place in the state to find Hudsonian Godwit, sometimes with substantial flocks in early October. Other shorebirds here included two adult Black-bellied Plovers, two Baird's Sandpipers, one Red-necked Phalarope, three juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers, at least four Long-billed Dowitchers (plus some distant dowitcher sp.), and four Wilson's Snipes. Overall numbers were low, no more than about 100 shorebirds altogether, probably because this habitat comes and goes with changes in wind direction and there's not much other habitat nearby. Still, this spot is worth checking, especially when winds are from the southwest. A scope is essential here because most of the birds are at or beyond the limit of what could be identified through binoculars. Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]