The always-interesting Irish mailing list reports that Hurricane Irene,
having swiveled east and now ablow in the British Isles, has generated
excited reports of the following local rarities in Irish coastal spots:
both yellowlegs, spotted and semipalmated and Baird's and pectoral and
buff-breasted sandpipers. We are glad to provide them, and wish these
unwilling migrants and their observers the best; at the same time we
regret that the prevailing winds in the Atlantic do not permit our Irish
colleagues as often to return the favo(u)r!
        In grimmer news, see
http://www.jeaniron.ca/2011/whimbrelmachi.htm , where we learn the fate
of migrant shorebirds in allegedly civilized countries in our
hemisphere. Here in Ohio most of our wildlife managers do an inadequate
job of providing shorebird habitat (our hottest spot this fall was an
entirely artificial dumping-ground for dredge spoil from the state's
most polluted river), at the same time obliterating other habitats to
improve teal hunting. It's interesting to see that when shorebirds are
legal to hunt, other governments' agencies find it easy enough to
provide habitat for them in migration. If yellowlegs were again legal to
hunt here (the Ohio Revised Code still calls them game species, only
temporarily disallowed--see ORC 1533.02) would shorebirds overall have a
better chance here??
Bill Whan
Columbus

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]