I was intrigued by Troy Shively's post from a few days ago about a calling
Upland Sandpiper in extreme eastern Champaign County.  (In a scruffy bean
field no less on the south side of Van Ness Road in Goshen Twp-just east of
St. Rt. 4.)  I went over there yesterday morning and had one bird calling
within 2 minutes of getting out of the car.  Troy found this bird while
conducting randomly located point counts for the Atlas, so this find is akin
to "stumbling" upon a needle in a haystack.



While out there, I ran into Dan Sanders and Doreene Linzell.  Doreene got
her scope on a sandpiper and then a second bird materialized.  At least one
of the birds was actively calling but both birds engaged in several
in-flight chases.  It appeared that one bird was chasing the other out of a
territory as it would eventually peel off from the chase and return to the
spot it had been calling from.



So what about this habitat?  The presence of two birds seems to be good
support for at least a nesting attempt.  Dan and I were speculating about
the significant amount of grassy margins around all these fields.  But the
field was a no-till soybean field and because the beans were young, the
field looked similar to what you'd expect for a fallow field.  An
interesting article from 1984 in the Ohio Journal of Science outlines the
decline of Uppies (see attached paper or request an electronic copy at your
convenience) and makes note of the well-known importance of airports to this
and other grassland species.  But maybe we need to shift our search image a
bit?  Besides, quiet roads surrounding by bean fields lack one important
factor.security personnel that think your pair of binoculars might double as
a missile launcher.



Extensive agricultural areas can be surprisingly "birdy".  If you have any
extensive fallow fields in atlas blocks that you're surveying, you may want
to spend a significant amount of time in these areas.  Upland Sandpipers
will nest in cropland habitats (reference the Birds of North America
account) and they may be more common in Ohio than what we know of at this
point.  Learn this species' call well.  The birds in Champaign County could
clearly be heard from a distance of about 400 yards and that was with a
stiff breeze.



And one final note, airports should still be accessed, if possible.  Does
anyone on this list have access to any airport where a manager or personnel
may be willing to let birders scour the grounds (not the runways of course)
for breeding birds?  If so, please contact me off-list ([log in to unmask]).



During my Champaign County ramblings yesterday, I swung by the airfield
north of Urbana (Grimes Field).  The habitat around these landing strips
looked fantastic.  Anyone have access to this airfield in particular???  I
sat in the parking area for about 15 minutes and heard numerous Savannah
Sparrows and meadowlarks but a walk around some of the grassland margins
could be interesting.  Let me know.



Good birding!



Aaron Boone

Project Coordinator

Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II

(614) 247-6458

www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/




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