My son, Jack Stenger, asked me to forward the following report to Ohio-birds. Jay Stenger Cincinnati, Ohio Yesterday, 11 April, I birded the southern end of Delaware Wildlife Area along Panhandle Rd and Leonardsburg Rd. Delaware WA is located 4 miles north of the town of Delaware in Delaware County. Upon arrival I was surprised to see the main marsh drained, exposing large mudflats throughout the marsh. Although there was not a large variety of species, the mudflats were teeming with shorebirds. The marsh was drained to allow repair to the water control structure in the dike. Water will not be pumped back into the marsh until mid August. There are still a few substantial pools of water remaining (enough to hold a swimming pelican and dabbling ducks). This remaining water combined with the spring rains should keep Delaware WA a place to watch for large shorebird numbers this spring. Highlights for the day included: 26 Canada Goose 16 Green-winged Teal 12 Blue-winged Teal 4 Northern Shoveler 15 Mallard 6 American Black Duck 2 Wood Duck 7 Red-breasted Mergansers (reservoir) 2 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 Pied-billed Grebe 1 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN (present since 28 Mar) 60 Double-crested Cormorants (on Delaware Reservoir) 3 Great Egret 10 Great Blue Heron 25 Turkey Vulture 1 Bald Eagle (ad.) 1 Cooper's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Kestrel 210 American Coot 20 Killdeer 14 Greater Yellowlegs 4 Lesser Yellowlegs 450 PECTORAL SANDPIPER 400 Bonaparte's Gull (many with full black heads) 150 Ring-billed Gull 72 AMERICAN PIPIT (in surrounding fields and mudflats) 3 Brown Thrasher 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Swamp Sparrow Jack Stenger Delaware, OH ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. 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]