I was at Wilderness Rd and Funk at St Rt 95 from 9:30 to 11am this morning.
Still lots of water there. The "shorebird" spot on the north side of
Wilderness Rd. is still a total lake. There are three pumps parked along
the road, but no sign of any pumping yet. With all the water, perhaps there
is no place to pump that water into. The area south of St. Rt 95 at Funk is
also still a lake, beginning 50yds away from the road. Right now, there is
very little shorebird habitat at either location.

Despite that, I had a good morning, with a total of 40 species identified.
Highlights at Wilderness Road were 1 adult and 2 immature bald eagles, 20
double-breasted cormorants, 100s of Canada geese and a pair of trumpeter
swans. Way out in the large fields west of the farm house, there were 34
sandhill cranes. There were four kestrels together on wires along the road
and a single bank swallow among a group of about 20 perched barn swallows.
I was lucky to find a little shorebird habitat in a plowed field on the
south side of the road, just west of the main flooded area and east of the
single farmhouse. There were five species there including 5 killdeer, 5
solitary, 3 spotted, 1 least, and 2 pectoral sandpipers. Although I did not
see them, a friend later saw bobolinks and dickcissels in the field of tall
grass and weeds on the south side of Wilderness Rd, west of the one house
just west of Elyria Rd, but before the small bridge.

At Funk, in the extensive flooded area south of St Rt 95, there were 15
common egrets and 10 great blue herons, plus 100s of Canada geese. There
was no obvious shorebird habitat there, but I did see a small flock of
unidentified shorebirds in flight once. Hopefully conditions for shorebirds
there will improve in August, if it ever quits raining.

Randy Rowe, Wooster

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