It would be interesting to hear how many others can join the Perchalskis in finding killdeers nesting on roofs. This behavior was described three-quarters of a century ago, but seems seldom reported in Ohio. Maybe the Atlas work will reveal more about it. Killdeers are in decline, but adaptability may be slowing their losses. A number of species that nest on cliffs, or on gravel bars or burned-over land, etc. can adapt to roof nesting. Opportunists like gulls do so as well. In Florida, where humans have co-opted so many of their breeding areas, least, gull-billed, and roseate terns, black skimmers, American oystercatchers, and even once in a while Wilson's plovers have taken to roofs. Some estimate the majority of the population of least terns in the Carolinas were born on roofs. An article recently appeared in the Florida Ornithological Society journal that pronounced tar-and-gravel roofs an endangered nesting habitat for least terns. Along the east coast, enormous numbers of nesting birds, forced off traditional nest sites, have made use of artificial reefs and dredge-spoil islands. These by-products of human activities are better than nothing for the more adaptable species, and we need to look at this use here in Ohio again, at least for water-loving birds. What the nighthawks (and to a lesser extent killdeers) are going to do when the gravel roofs are gone is a good question. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]