Hey all -
 
Great shorebirding for the date in the Sandusky Bay region.
 
Pickerel Creek WA:
 
Greater Yellowlegs  7
Lesser Yellowlegs  70
Least Sandpiper  54
Short-billed Dowitcher  4
 
Green-winged Teal  4
Dickcissel  18  4 fem
Bobolink  11
 
Best attack strategy: park at the gravel lot on TR-280 (eastern refuge border), walk straight west on the mown path; you will pass a couple impoundments with good shorebird habitat; when you reach the first north/south path, make a right and then loop back east along the path bordering the bay, where there are more mudflats
 
Lots of Dickcissels along this route, as well
 
Willow Point WA:
 
Lesser Yellowlegs  50
Least Sandpiper  32
Stilt Sandpiper  3
Short-billed Dowitcher  1
 
Pipe Creek WA:
 
no significant shorebird habitat yet, however Unit B is dropping rapidly and was loaded with waders and various waterfowl species
 
That's 120 Lesser Yellowlegs total on 1 July...unbelieveable in my book!  Also, the earliest I've had Stilt Sandpipers in the region...and Dickcissels are literally everywhere this year, in my places they shouldn't even be, really.  I had typed a lengthy narrative on the N/NW blog, but forgot to save and lost the entire tale...aaaargh.  Shorebird numbers, as these, so early, really make you wonder how successful their nesting season could have been up north though...
 
Good birding -
Gabe Leidy
Sheffield Lake

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