It's great to hear shorebird habitat will be discussed this weekend at
ONWR, and that many folks seem interested in attending this talk. I too
hope the proceedings can be made available for those of us who cannot
attend, and that perhaps further discussion can be conducted in this
mailing list. Providing habitat for shorebirds should naturally play a
part in scientific management for large government-owned wetlands in our
region; after all, more species of shorebirds occur in Ohio than
waterfowl, warblers, or sparrows.
I'd like to suggest a few topics that folks interested in
shorebirds--or in biodiversity in general, as many other native animals
use these habitats--might bring up to make sure the discussion looks
into how shorebird habitat management is actually being conducted in our
northwestern marshes, and to what extent it's succeeding.
How, for example, is management correcting mistakes of the past?
Altering marshes to benefit hunters of waterfowl and hunters/trappers of
other game species has practically extinguished healthy nesting
populations of other birds: the black tern is a good example. Milton
Trautman, himself an avid duck hunter, repeatedly made this point. Terns
and ducks seem to get along quite well in more natural settings
elsewhere--such as in the prairie potholes--as do shorebirds.
Has diking off the marshes almost completely, with the necessary
exception of the Crane Creek estuary, promoted increased numbers of
shorebirds (or fishes, or molluscs, or insects), or diminished them? The
answer seems to be "No." The estuary was where the surviving members of
an important population of molluscs, being killed by the diking of
Metzger Marsh, were relocated on an emergency basis to preserve them,
because its habitats were not so disconnected from Lake Erie. As a less
confined water source, it was also where by far the largest numbers of
Ottawa's shorebirds have been seen in the last decade, providing the
lion's share of the numbers that made it possible to have this area
designated in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.
As for Metzger Marsh, how many of the shorebirds observed since its
diking have appeared merely because of a few draw-downs conducted for
unrelated reasons such as phragmites control (such as when 9000 dunlins
were estimated there in May 2004, and nothing close to that number
since)? Many migrant shorebirds rely on mudflats and shallows, which in
turn rely on changing water levels, which in turn rely on either natural
processes or expensive mechanical pumping. Ask how managers plan to
encourage natural water-level fluctuations beyond what little exists today.
Unusual and temporary conditions here have produced impressive
accumulations of shorebirds. The most memorable incursion of shorebirds
in Magee Marsh in the modern era occurred (unintentionally) with the
temporary draw-down of an impoundment near Turtle Creek in the fall of
1996 (and never since). 1996 was also a great fall for shorebirds at
Metzger, just before it was flooded behind the new dike, and also the
year when the highest recent published count of black terns (120) was
made there. Metzger Marsh was once the largest fall molting site in
eastern North America for long-billed dowitchers. Also in 1996, Jon Dunn
reported 156 there; since the diking they are no longer found in Metzger
Marsh, with diminished numbers now irregularly resorting to areas in ONWR.
Why was it that during this spring and many other springs in recent
memory, birders were likely to see more shorebird migrants resting and
feeding on barren agricultural fields outside the marshes, rather than
in areas inside presumably intended to manage for them?
Why did the little area on Benton-Carroll Rd, so good for shorebirds
when it was in private hands last year and before, suddenly invite
hardly any this spring after its acquisition (and, inevitably, dike
construction) by ONWR managers? The latest Ottawa census produced the
following shorebirds: 23 killdeers, one least sandpiper, and one
American woodcock; last month's census had 100 dunlins, with numbers of
killdeers, greater yellowlegs, snipes, and solitary sandpipers that
totaled 26. The Magee & Cedar Point censuses are no longer announced,
but were they just as anemic for a WHSRN site?
Obviously the numbers of shorebirds occurring in the NW marshes are
highly dependent on how their former habitats are now managed. An
extensive network of diked impoundments designed mostly for ducks, which
is pretty much what managers have to work with, is only with difficulty
converted to more natural marsh habitats, which elsewhere largely manage
themselves when they take part in a natural hydrological system. Funds
are limited, and those for non-game species especially so. It is
therefore understandable that most often shorebirds here seem ignored,
and their numbers usually suffer. When once in a while they flourish, it
is usually as a result of unrelated temporary habitat alterations whose
benefits to them were unintended.
Some may say shorebirds are actually around in much healthier numbers,
just out of sight in some inaccessible areas away from the roads and
paths open to the public. Ask for verification: careful surveys have
been taken of shorebirds for decades, some weekly and some monthly, out
in the back areas of the public wetlands; seldom do their numbers
support this assertion, acre by acre. Maybe shorebirds don't really need
stopover sites in Ohio: they are prodigious fliers; but it seems
dangerous to assume this.
There are good scientists at our public agencies, and they know the
state of the art about habitat management for non-game species,
including shorebirds. There are a lot of powerful influences that place
the needs of shorebirds way down on the list of management priorities. I
hope this reality is openly presented. Our scientists can give an
informative talk about the subject. We need to ask how willing, or able,
they are to follow their own advice.
Bill Whan
Columbus
Laura Bonneau wrote:
> Sorry about the late notice, but this might be of interest to some of you!
>
> Naturally Speaking: "Managing Habitat for Shorebirds," Sunday, June
> 13th, 2:00 p.m.
>
> Thousands of shorebirds migrate through northwest Ohio each spring and
> fall. How can public and private lands be managed to provide prime
> shorebird habitat during these times? Come learn important habitat
> management tips and considerations from Mark Shieldcastle, Research
> Director for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday,
> June 13th. This free, informative presentation is part of Ottawa National
> Wildlife Refuge Association's "Naturally Speaking" seminar series, held on
> the second Sunday of each month (excluding holidays) at Ottawa National
> Wildlife Refuge's visitor center.
>
> Laura A. Bonneau
> Visitor Services Specialist
> U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
> Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
> 14000 West State Route 2
> Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449
> (419) 898-0014
> www.fws.gov/midwest/ottawa
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