Greetings---went to Ashtabula Co. yesterday with hopes of locating upland sandpipers at the traditional area in Denmark Twp., near the county airport. No luck though. There is still ample habitat there, and the other species typical of the area are present, including wild turkeys, Am. kestrels, horned lark, e. bluebirds, bobolinks, and e. meadowlarks. Conneaut harbor had lesser scaups, red-breasted mergansers, double-crested cormorants, greater yellowlegs, Bonaparte's gulls, 25 great black-backed gulls, 60 Caspian terns, 15 Forster's terns. Orwell marsh held a few blue-winged and green-winged teal, 20 lesser yellowlegs, solitary and spotted sandpipers, 15 least sandpipers, and dunlin. Both Orwell and Conneaut look real good for shorebirds still on their way. The outer spit at Conneaut cannot be reached by car right now--too much debris and soft sand. Great news!! This will keep most of the humans and dogs away from the limited amount of prime resting/feeding habitat. I suppose the Port Authority will clean and grade that stretch of the spit by summer. But for now, it's nice to see a naturally fluctuating shoreline where terns can loaf in peace. Later, Craig --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]