I learned today from John Watts that the temporary viewing area of the shorebird area at Bluewing Pond in Pickerington Ponds MP will be closed to access soon: water has risen, and shorebird habitat seems effectively finished there for now. This area became noted this fall when a Hudsonian godwit spent 31 Aug-9 Sept, and one-two American avocets 11 Sept-10 Oct there. The long stay by the avocets may seem extraordinary, but actually there are records of a number of similarly lengthy Ohio sojourns in the fall: 9/14-10/13/46 in Erie Co, 9/11-11/1/74 in the Toledo area, 9/21-10/30/78 in Cleveland, and 10/21-11/11/79 at Ottawa NWR. This fall avocet reports came from Ashtabula, Williams, Clark, Erie, Lucas, and Franklin counties. Both godwits and avocets may be seen into November in Ohio, when their stays are far more leisurely than in the hormonal race of spring. Good birds, Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. 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]