I have three questions about Ohio shorebirds. If anyone has some good
information, please share.

1) There have been up to 19 Wilson's phalaropes in an agricultural field
in Marion Co over the past week-plus. Several observers, myself
included, saw and reported birds copulating. Nesting has been documented
at this spot in three recent years. A good birder visiting there the day
before yesterday reported NO phalaropes. Does anyone have information to
(a) confirm that these birds have not been seen since then, or (b)
indicate that this species will regularly copulate before reaching the
breeding grounds?

2) Some have sought to excuse eradication of shores for shorebirds along
Lake Erie by citing the attractiveness of pooled rainwater in
agricultural fields near the Lake, at least during the spring migration
(in fall, of course, these fields are usually covered with crops). My
observations of spring shorebirds in these locations is that they
readily stop here briefly, for lack of anything else, but don't spend
much time feeding. Does anyone know of good published studies of the
effects of agricultural chemicals on food production for migrant
shorebirds? I don't imagine these birds stay long enough to suffer much
from the chemicals, but they may not be finding much to eat, either.

3) We are seeing an unusually late northward movement of shorebirds this
  year, seems to me. Observers from Florida have been reporting unusual
numbers still headed our way over the past few days, and our Big Day
team had 14 species on June 1st, and could easily have had 17. Certain
breeding spots have been late to develop nesting conditions, as well,
with some opening up only recently (see Jean Iron's reports from James
Bay at http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/SHOR.html#1212845108 ).
It would be good to document this sufficiently, so if you see shorebirds
(not local breeders like killdeers, woodcocks, spotties, etc.) over the
next couple of weeks, please report them here in detail, so we can keep
track. By late June, on the other hand, many shorebirds will already be
returning from the Arctic, so they wouldn't count for this purpose.
Thanks as always for reliable bird reports,
Bill Whan
Columbus

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