Visited the Bellevue flooded fields (TR 292 near the RR tracks) and Willow Point today. Peregrine Falcons scared off the shorebirds at *both* locations! Highlights (full list below): The Buff-breasted Sandpiper was back at the flooded fields, along with a Marbled Godwit and 2 Red-necked Phalaropes Water is receding fast in the flooded fields, particularly on the southeast side (where the most shorebirds are) but there still is plenty of shorebird habitat. Overall numbers were down considerably from Monday; still, a few hundred shorebirds is a great collection in Ohio. We were able to observe the shorebirds for a couple of hours until the local Peregrine strafed the fields several times. This immature bird apparently was just practicing, as it missed several easy opportunities and didn't seem to care a lot. (Yes, that's an anthropomorphic interpretation, but we were there....) Whatever the purpose of the falcon's activity, it was enough to scare off most of the shorebirds, which went heaven-knows-where. We then headed to Willow Point. Water is being pumped into the southerly pond (for fish? for waterfowl? certainly not for shorebirds) but habitat toward the east end of the pond still was good, as was habitat in the northerly pond. Shortly after we arrived, though, and before we could little more than start our shorebird search, another Peregrine moved in, scattering shorebirds every which way. This one seemed more intent on hunting and pursued one shorebird (a peep, possibly a least) in a very acrobatic chase for several minutes. Fortunately for the peep, the falcon either got tired or decided that it wasn't that hungry, as it finally broke off the overhead chase high in the air above us and settled down to rest in a nearby snag. The shorebirds showed no sign of returning, so we left, too. The show put on by this last Peregrine was amazing -- but I certainly wish it had come as the finale rather than intruding on the first act! Here's a list for the day: Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Bufflehead (a bit surprising at flooded fields) Ruddy Duck Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Peregrine Falcon American Coot American Golden-plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Short-billed Dowitcher Marbled Godwit (flooded fields) Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Red-necked Phalarope Ring-billed Gull Caspian Tern Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Cedar Waxwing European Starling -- Bill Heck ______________________________________________________________________ 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]