Due to my job obligation I was able to visit the sandspit in Ashtabula County at 4PM friday, and today, saturday at 9AM. It was an ornithological desert! Not even the usual numerous gulls! The reason ? Hunters and lots of decoys! Is it really necessary to allow waterfowl hunting at one of Ohio's premier, rare bird sighting locations ? One often wonders if this site is really a birdwatcher friendly enviroment, locals destroying the little remaining unprotected shorebird habitat with their vehicles, the hunting circumstance, and the regular drive thru hell raisers! Note: I have been a part time visitor to the site 4 to 5 days a week for the past twelve weeks. Note: Offshore there were 20+ Horned Grebes, 5 Common Loons, 10+ Red-breasted Mergansers, 100+ Coots, and 2 flyby flocks of 150+ each Cormorants heading southwest. Black-crowned Night-Herons remain at the platform lagoon. Bob Lane Damascus,Ohio _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook – together at last. Get it now. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL100626971033 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]