I birded the Wilderness Road area of Funk Bottoms this morning and was
pleased to see that the ponds have recently been pumped out, creating some
outstanding shorebird habitat. This has happened since I was there in
mid-July when the ponds were all still full of water. Many of you remember
that these ponds were pumped out last summer and the shorebirding was
fantastic into early September. Today, the shorebird numbers were not that
high, but I did see 8 species: Killdeer (40+), semipalmated plover (2),
greater yellowlegs (6), lesser yellowlegs (4), spotted (5), semipalmated
sandpiper (3), least sandpiper (15+).

Amazingly, there were over 130 great blue herons standing towards the back
of the drained ponds along with a *dozen* immature bald eagles. One caspian
tern was standing in the mudflats. A flight of 17 sandhill cranes came in
to the field to the west, and I'm sure there were more out of sight. The
other noteworthy sighting was the massing of bank swallows. At one point I
saw nearly 100 lined up on one telephone wire.

The Wilderness Rd. area of Funk Bottoms merits watching closely for
shorebirds the next month or so. The habitat there is now superb!  Randy
Rowe, Wooster

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