Well, a day late (and perpetually a dollar short) I thought I'd add some comments regarding Bill Whan's post about bald eagles and shorebirds.  One of the real joys of all the time I've spent at Conneaut harbor is watching the behavior of birds there at close range.  I usually end up with more questions than answers.  The bald eagles don't cause the shorebirds there to get too upset, unless one lands right on the spit.  The gulls sure do panic though.  I'd bet many of the gulls spend a lot of time there, and see these same young eagles day after day after day.  Yet they freak out day after day.  I've seen an eagle capture a ring-billed gull elsewhere (not at Conneaut though), so I can see the adaptive value of the gulls' panic--to a point.  But I've never seen an eagle seriously pursue any bird at Conneaut yet.  If shorebirds are very close to roosting gulls, they will often flush up when the gulls do.  One of the wisest things I've ever read was "The best birdwatchers are
 other birds".  So why do the shorebirds at Mosquito L. panic at the approach of eagles?  Perhaps they are reacting to the panic of gulls or waterfowl.  But the ducks at Mosquito seem to pay little attention to the ever-present eagles there, at least most of the time.  More questions than answers......now some more questions.....going back to Conneaut---I've seen shorebirds spooked by great blue herons, n. harriers, Cooper's hawks, kestrels, merlins, peregrines, jaegers, and rock pigeons (which can look falcon-like).  OK, this makes sense.  Ospreys are pretty much ignored;  again, this makes sense.  But low-flying turkey vultures often flush shorebirds at Conneaut.  Why?  Yes, there is a resemblance to harriers and other avian predators.  But not that strong.  Do vultures seek out weak/injured shorebirds?  One last question for today--are the marbled godwits at Mosquito this month staying to molt?  I think they are adults, but they haven't been close enough to study well.
 Once, a marbled godwit stayed at the lagoon area of Conneaut for about a month  also.  Kind of reminds me of staging long-billed dowitcher behavior in Ohio.  Please post your thoughts on these queries to the listserv.  Again, thanks to Bill Whan for generating another interesting thread.       Later, Craig

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