It is worth looking up the patterns of migrations of arctic-nesting
shorebirds through the Great Lakes. It might be useful to make a few
basic points again about regular occurrences here in fall.
        One large group of regular migrants follows the central (Mississippi)
flyway north in spring.  Anxious to claim the best nesting territories
in the Arctic, they waste no off-course time in getting there. Some
examples are Hudsonian godwit, long-billed dowitcher, buff-breasted
sandpiper, and stilt sandpiper. Whimbrels move north along or near the
Atlantic coast.  Few Ohioans have seen these species here in spring.
        Southbound in fall, most shorebirds move more slowly and widely. Some
of the strongest fliers--larger and longer
-winged--take advantage of their capabilities to fly in flocks over
water on their way to South American wintering areas in fall. Remember
recent press stories about the astonishing non-stop flights of thousands
of miles by Hudsonian godwits in the western Atlantic and bar-tailed
godwits over the Pacific (
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/shorebirds/barg_updates.html  ).
        Whimbrels and Hudsonian godwits, regular (even if never seen as often
as observers would like) in Ohio move through the state almost
exclusively in fall, and they show a strong tendency to fly east over
Lake Erie, stopping when necessary along shorelines in appropriate
habitat, on their way to the Atlantic, where they fly well offshore
south to central and South America. See
http://www.borealbirds.org/birdguide/mig_map_hudsonian_godwit.shtml  and
   http://www.ccb-wm.org/programs/migration/Whimbrel/whimbrel.htm  .
Long ago, Eskimo curlews too took the central flyway north, and traveled
to South America for the winter via an Atlantic Ocean route.
Buff-breasteds, l-b dowitchers, and stilt sandpipers, also rare here in
spring, seem to fan out and move in a more leisurely fashion in their
return journeys (buff-breasteds actually winter in areas where Eskimo
curlews used to, but lack their long-range flying abilities), thus are
more often found in Ohio in fall.
        Whimbrels are regularly seen in numbers, in fall often enough in the
hundreds, on the Ontario side of Lake Erie. They are seen in smaller
numbers here along the Lake, and inland every once in a while --we had
an unprecedented flight of 50-60 here in central Ohio a couple of years
ago, and hundred-plus were found near Killdeer Plains less than twenty
years ago. Sparse regional spring records of whimbrels are mostly
restricted to the Ontario side of Lake Erie, and fall flocks average far
larger there; this may be because the birds are headed to and from the
north, or it may have something to do with the availability of stopover
habitat, I don't know. I do know shorebirds are too seldom attracted by
habitats artificially dedicated to waterfowl, as exist in many Ohio
lakeside wild venues.
        Anyway, observers interested in fall whimbrel migrants along the Lake
on their way south should watch for eastbound flocks in flight from good
vantage points (this is how Ontario observers accumulate their large
counts), or in expansive shallow wetlands and short grass along the
shore where they stop to feed and rest. The latter habitat--when open to
visitation by birders--is especially hard to find. Though their numbers
are in decline, they are regularly findable there, as they have been for
many years.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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