In response to Bill Whan's very interesting question, here are other
things that I observed at Mosquito Lake as well as elsewhere at other
times of the year that may answer some but not all questions.

There were also Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks in the area, but
they were not visible to me from the limited vantage point along
Hoagland Blackstub Road looking over the mudflats.  I heard them
calling.  These raptors could also have started the flock of shorebirds
flying.

The fleeing flock of shorebirds appeared to be responding to the gulls
and waterfowl in the area taking flight.  It appeared to me that the
Killdeer started the process for shorebirds, acting like mudflat
sentinels, but it could have also been the yellowlegs or Semipalmated
Plovers starting the process for the shorebirds.  Killdeer appeared to
start the fleeing process for shorebirds closer to Hoagland Blackstub
Road.  It was hard to tell what started the process for the large flock
of shorebirds that were very far out on the mudflats.

I have never seen an eagle killing a smaller shorebird, but have seen
flocks of gulls and waterfowl take flight when an eagle flies over.
Eagles have been reported to take waterfowl and maybe also gulls.
Jay Lehman
Cincinnati

______________________________________________________________________

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]