This afternoon (Friday August 22) I made a quick check of five of the
flooded-field shorebird spots near Bellevue, on the Seneca-Sandusky county
line.  Water levels are dropping at all of these spots but numbers of birds
were still high, with a total of 16 shorebird species seen.

Pond north of C34 between T79 and T80, a mile south of the county line: the
water level is a lot lower from last week but the pond still had 163
Killdeer, 71 Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Pectoral Sandpipers,
2 Short-billed Dowitchers, about 20 Least Sandpipers, and one Baird's
Sandpiper.

Pond on T80, half a mile south of the county line: again, water level is
down, but the pond had a surprising 9 Stilt Sandpipers.  Other birds
included 14 Pectoral, one Solitary, 2 Spotted, one Semipalmated, and 28
Least Sandpipers, 41 Killdeer, and 6 Lesser Yellowlegs.  One female
Yellow-headed Blackbird was with the starlings and Red-wings on the shore.

Flooded area on both sides of the railroad tracks on T292 (Riddle Rd) just
north of the county line:  The "road closed" signs are still there, but
there's no longer any water across the road south of the tracks, and only a
narrow strip across the road north of the tracks.  Off to the sides, though,
there is still a very large flooded area, with hundreds of shorebirds
present.  When I arrived, Jen Brumfield and a group from Cleveland
Metroparks were just leaving.  Jen had checked out the area thoroughly so I
didn't spend a huge amount of time, but there were some nice things there,
including a juv. Wilson's Phalarope, 2 adult Black-bellied Plovers, and
several Semipalmated Plovers.  In one section I counted 57 Stilt Sandpipers,
with only two of those being adults, the rest juveniles.  A couple of quick
sample counts indicated that there were well over 300 Lesser Yellowlegs and
over 200 Pectoral Sandpipers here, and at least 150 Semipalmated Sandpipers,
surprising considering how few Semis I'd seen at the two previous stops.
The numbers of birds were in stark contrast to their scarcity last Saturday,
when repeated passes by a young Peregrine Falcon apparently had moved some
things out.

Flooded area on 205 (Bonham Rd) between 296 and 288, north of US 20:  no
shorebirds here except a few Killdeers and a Solitary.  Still a lot of
water.  I stop here mostly hoping for something like a Purple Gallinule, not
shorebirds.

Flooded area on 175 (South Ridge Rd) east of 278, or about 2 miles
east-northeast of US 20:  Most of the water is gone, but the remaining four
patches of water and the surrounding flats were crowded with birds,
including a beautiful juv Red-necked Phalarope, 5 juv Baird's Sandpipers,
one adult White-rumped Sandpiper, and 3 adult Black-bellied Plovers.  Other
birds there were 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 100-plus Killdeer, 4 Spotted
Sandpipers, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 100-plus Lesser Yellowlegs, 50-plus
Semipalmated Sandpipers, 100-plus Least Sandpipers, 100-plus Pectoral
Sandpipers, 42 Stilt Sandpipers, and 18 Short-billed Dowitchers.

Notes on ages of birds:  Lesser Yellowlegs -- mostly juveniles today, but at
least 10 percent were faded adults.  Semipalmated Sandpiper -- I saw only
two adults today, so 99 percent of those seen were juveniles.  Least
Sandpiper -- at least 95 percent juveniles.  White-rumped -- just the one
adult; juvs are fairly late migrants.  Baird's -- all 6 seen were juveniles.
Pectoral -- with some of the distant birds I couldn't tell, since the
difference between adults and juveniles is less obvious with Pectoral than
with some other sandpipers; but of the birds seen close, at least 30 percent
were juveniles, the first substantial numbers I'd seen this fall (as with
all of these species, the adults arrive here before the juveniles on
average).  Stilt Sandpiper -- two adults for the day, all the rest (106)
were juveniles. Short-billed Dowitcher -- all juveniles.

The numbers and variety are excellent right now, and should continue to be
until the last of the water dries up.  I didn't see anything really unusual
today but I expect there's daily turnover, and some of these spots would be
worth checking every day.  All of these spots are easy to find by reference
to a DeLorme or some other detailed road atlas.

Kenn Kaufman
Oak Harbor, Ohio

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