This afternoon (Friday August 22) I made a quick check of five of the flooded-field shorebird spots near Bellevue, on the Seneca-Sandusky county line. Water levels are dropping at all of these spots but numbers of birds were still high, with a total of 16 shorebird species seen. Pond north of C34 between T79 and T80, a mile south of the county line: the water level is a lot lower from last week but the pond still had 163 Killdeer, 71 Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, about 20 Least Sandpipers, and one Baird's Sandpiper. Pond on T80, half a mile south of the county line: again, water level is down, but the pond had a surprising 9 Stilt Sandpipers. Other birds included 14 Pectoral, one Solitary, 2 Spotted, one Semipalmated, and 28 Least Sandpipers, 41 Killdeer, and 6 Lesser Yellowlegs. One female Yellow-headed Blackbird was with the starlings and Red-wings on the shore. Flooded area on both sides of the railroad tracks on T292 (Riddle Rd) just north of the county line: The "road closed" signs are still there, but there's no longer any water across the road south of the tracks, and only a narrow strip across the road north of the tracks. Off to the sides, though, there is still a very large flooded area, with hundreds of shorebirds present. When I arrived, Jen Brumfield and a group from Cleveland Metroparks were just leaving. Jen had checked out the area thoroughly so I didn't spend a huge amount of time, but there were some nice things there, including a juv. Wilson's Phalarope, 2 adult Black-bellied Plovers, and several Semipalmated Plovers. In one section I counted 57 Stilt Sandpipers, with only two of those being adults, the rest juveniles. A couple of quick sample counts indicated that there were well over 300 Lesser Yellowlegs and over 200 Pectoral Sandpipers here, and at least 150 Semipalmated Sandpipers, surprising considering how few Semis I'd seen at the two previous stops. The numbers of birds were in stark contrast to their scarcity last Saturday, when repeated passes by a young Peregrine Falcon apparently had moved some things out. Flooded area on 205 (Bonham Rd) between 296 and 288, north of US 20: no shorebirds here except a few Killdeers and a Solitary. Still a lot of water. I stop here mostly hoping for something like a Purple Gallinule, not shorebirds. Flooded area on 175 (South Ridge Rd) east of 278, or about 2 miles east-northeast of US 20: Most of the water is gone, but the remaining four patches of water and the surrounding flats were crowded with birds, including a beautiful juv Red-necked Phalarope, 5 juv Baird's Sandpipers, one adult White-rumped Sandpiper, and 3 adult Black-bellied Plovers. Other birds there were 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 100-plus Killdeer, 4 Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 100-plus Lesser Yellowlegs, 50-plus Semipalmated Sandpipers, 100-plus Least Sandpipers, 100-plus Pectoral Sandpipers, 42 Stilt Sandpipers, and 18 Short-billed Dowitchers. Notes on ages of birds: Lesser Yellowlegs -- mostly juveniles today, but at least 10 percent were faded adults. Semipalmated Sandpiper -- I saw only two adults today, so 99 percent of those seen were juveniles. Least Sandpiper -- at least 95 percent juveniles. White-rumped -- just the one adult; juvs are fairly late migrants. Baird's -- all 6 seen were juveniles. Pectoral -- with some of the distant birds I couldn't tell, since the difference between adults and juveniles is less obvious with Pectoral than with some other sandpipers; but of the birds seen close, at least 30 percent were juveniles, the first substantial numbers I'd seen this fall (as with all of these species, the adults arrive here before the juveniles on average). Stilt Sandpiper -- two adults for the day, all the rest (106) were juveniles. Short-billed Dowitcher -- all juveniles. The numbers and variety are excellent right now, and should continue to be until the last of the water dries up. I didn't see anything really unusual today but I expect there's daily turnover, and some of these spots would be worth checking every day. All of these spots are easy to find by reference to a DeLorme or some other detailed road atlas. Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, 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]