Hey all,

I have been posting about the Lorain Impoundment for the last week or so.  
I spent most of this morning over there.  The shorebirding is still 
awesome.  As the day warmed up the birds really got active.  I saw bunches 
of spotted sandpipers, Dunlin, Least sandpiper, semipalmated plover,      
white-rumped sandpiper, lesser yellowlegs, killdeer, and a possible black-
bellied plover.  I don't like to post sitings unless I am really sure but 
I feel pretty confident on this.  I was walking the northern part of the 
dike that runs around the impoundment I was walking from east to west.  In 
the pond on the north side of the dike I stopped to scan the muddy shore 
up ahead of me.  About 500 feet infront of me I thought I saw a black 
bellied plover.  It was on the western end of the pond.  I should have 
looked longer to confirm but wanted a closer look so I walked down the 
left side of the dike (southside) until I got to where I figured the bird 
to be.  I than crawled up the dike to take a peek but the bird was gone.  
I looked everywhere but I could not relocate the bird.  

I had the thought that I may have been seeing things so I walked back down 
the dike to where I first spotted the bird and rechecked just to be sure I 
didn't mistake something on the ground for a bird.  What I saw was gone.  
So I am confident I saw a bird.  What I saw was a bird facing toward me 
with a black front and I could see much lighter sides but I never got a 
good look at the side of the bird as it was facing me and I wasn't patient 
enough to wait for it to turn.  It was by itself but stood very upright 
and looked tall compared to the killdeer that were near it.  In looking at 
the books black-bellied is all it really could have been.  If I was to 
give a percent of how sure I am of the id I would saw 80 to 90%.

I will post photos later today at rarebird of the shorebirds I did get.  I 
have a photo of what I am calling a white-rumped sandpiper if someone 
looks at the photos and determines I am wrong let me know but I think it's 
right.

If you like shorebirds really take the time to check Lorain out right now. 
The area and the mudflats are perfect and there are loads of birds around.

Even though I went for shorebirds I also saw male Oriole, Kingbird, yellow 
warbler, song sparrows, goldfinch, mallards, one wood duck, geese, great 
blue heron, and tons of swallows.

Just to respond to the post yesterday about the impoundment area being 
possibly dangerous I saw three other people the whole time I was there.  
Two were walking a dog and one was going fishing.  I was the only birder.  
But always be on the look out.

Take Care,

Matt Vosniak

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