Some updates for those interested in ongoing news about long-distance shorebird migrants. These are inspiring stories of the persistence of creatures adapted to the narrowest margins of survivability on earth. They are still with us, albeit in diminished numbers, despite the eradication of their habitats so that human numbers can continue to multiply. First, Winnie, the whimbrel given a radio responder in Virginia by the Nature Conservancy last spring, who later undertook an unusually long migration to Alaska via a 3200-mile non-stop flight, apparently either died or lost her transmitter in August on her return voyage (again apparently aimed at the east coast, probably via Ohio, rather than the west coast used by Alaska nesters) near Duluth. This story and related news is at http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/virginia/news/news2758.html The still more amazing trans-Pacific southward movement of Alaskan-breeding bar-tailed godwits, the longest non-stop migration by any shorebird, is again being tracked by transmitter, with updates at http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/shorebirds/barg_updates.html . If these narratives don't stir your heart, then take up politics. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]