We had been out of town (DC and then Utah) and had missed the beginning of the excitement about the Black-necked Stilts in Seneca Co., but today I went by to take a look. As others have reported, there does appear to be a nesting attempt in progress. Going south on TR 80 from the Sandusky-Seneca county line, the large adventive wetland to the east of the road is obvious; if you stop about halfway along the pond and look east across it, there's a long, low hill that appears to be planted to soybeans or some similar crop. Near the top of this rise there's a flat whitish rock, and a Black-necked Stilt is sitting tight on the ground just to the south of that rock. It would be very easy to miss if you weren't specifically looking for it, and without a telescope it would be just a little black and white patch on the ground. While I was watching this afternoon (July 4), an eagle flew over, flushing all the Killdeers and Lesser Yellowlegs (and a second stilt) from the pond that's even farther east beyond the hill, but the stilt on the ground sat tight without moving. This would be typical behavior of an incubating bird and it would be hard to explain that behavior any other way. There's a certain amount of traffic on TR 80 so it's courteous to pull as far off the road as you can. While I was stopped there today, a local man stopped to ask if I was looking at the Black-necked Stilts! He had already talked to other birders, he said. He seemed genuinely interested in having such a rare bird around. Black-necked Stilts in some other areas (Arizona, south Texas, lower Mississippi Valley) have proven to be quite adaptable and quick to take advantage of new or temporary habitat for nesting, and overall the species is doing well in North America. Especially if the Seneca County birds are successful in nesting, we might hope to see more of these birds showing up in future years. Incidentally, kudos to the Cullens for first turning us on to the potential of the wetlands in this area. Kenn Kaufman Rocky Ridge, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]