Greetings birders - Gabe Leidy and I hit Conneaut this morning, starting around 9 am and continuing till 1:30 pm. Shorebird numbers were small to medium considering the available habitat. Human disruption in the area is likely the greatest factor in fewer numbers/species. A juvenile WILLET was present from apparently 7 am and continued at ridiculously close range even as I left the area at 1:30. At 1 pm, a major front moved in (great lightning show and a water spout (!) ) and dropped a winter plumaged AMERICAN AVOCET smack dab on the flats. The Avocet remained on the harbor side of the flats (viewed from the parking lot/boat launch) when I left. Shorebirds - 11 species Black-bellied Plover - 3 Semipalmated Plover - 20+ Killdeer - 30 American Avocet - 1 Least Sandpiper - 20+ Semipalmated Sandpiper - 20+ Sanderling - 2 Spotted Sandpiper - 2 Lesser Yellowlegs - 7 Greater Yellowlegs - 2 Willet - 1 Other species: Black-crowned Night-Heron, Green Heron, Osprey, American Kestrel, Bald Eagle, Caspian Tern, Bonaparte's Gull, Sora, Purple Martin, Bank Swallow, Yellow Warbler. Best of birding - Jen Jen Brumfield Sharon Center, OH [log in to unmask] _________________________________________________________________ Get more from your digital life. Find out how. http://www.windowslive.com/default.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Home2_082008 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]