Thanks to Bill Whan for the reminder that I need to let everyone know about available shorebird viewing on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. There are currently two visible areas on refuge property that have good shorebird habitat, one Bill already mentioned in his post on 3/29 ([Ohio-birds] North and north-central Ohio birds 3/28). There are no signs to tell you this but, the property on Benton-Carroll Road (south of the deeper diked field) is owned by the refuge and while bird numbers dropped by Monday there were still a good number of birds seen there. Also, as mentioned, it is a narrow road and local traffic is heavy, please bird with care ( DO NOT pull into the driveway at the little barn, the culvert has collapsed and you could lose your car in the hole.) The other location is visible from Veler Road. Veler is located just over 5 miles west of the refuge entrance, turn right, the road dead ends at the refuge gate and the habitat is south of the road. A little care needs to be taken when parking here, it is a school bus turn around so watch the time and don't block the bus. If any of you have visited the refuge for the auto tours over the last year this area was part of the construction project to convert an agricultural field into wetland habitat. It was very visible from the auto tour and was mentioned on the guide, but it is just as visible any day of the week from the gate. A scope is required for any identification. It is also being used by many dabbling ducks and eagles, a bald eagle nest is also visible to the south of this unit. Now for habitat on the hiking trails. The refuge is currently lowering the water in two units. One will only be lowered and one will be taken down to mud. This is unit 2A on the map and is the northwestern most unit. Of course, if we've had much wind from the southwest the creek is a good place to check. On a non-shorebird note, some of the hiking trail is closed due to nesting bald eagles. This is the pair of eagles that was visible from the visitor center (in the north woods). A great horned owl moved in to this nest early in the year and displaced the eagle pair. There is a scope in the visitor center for owl viewing and we believe there are young in the nest. Outside of the public areas of the refuge there is a maintenance project on the north side of the refuge that will require another unit be drained to mud. This project was planned for the fall to 1)discourage invasive plant growth and 2) to provide fall shorebird habitat. However, this project has been moved up to the spring. Right now plans are that this habitat will be available on the auto tour this spring. As with anything in nature we can not predict 5 inch rainstorms or nesting eagles and sometimes things do not go as we plan. If anyone would like more information on the mechanics of moving water on the refuge and how something that seems so simple is actually quite complicated please feel free to email me off list and I would be glad to get an explanation for you. I would also be glad to answer any other refuge related questions. Please feel free to stop in the visitor center any day from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. and share your sightings with us. We do not get out on the trails as much as we would like and welcome you telling us what is out there, we are also more than willing to answer any questions you may have, or address your concerns. Others appreciate your sightings, as well, as we can then share more with them. In December the refuge opened it's newest addition to the trails, we now have a short boardwalk connecting the visitor center to the existing trail system. While short, it travels through a great mix of habitats from shrubs, to tall trees, to wetland. We have seen a wonderful variety of birds along the trail already. For you early and late birders (before 9 and after 4) our after hours restrooms should be opening in the next few weeks. This building is located north of the visitor center, next to the visitor parking lot. Good birding and we hope to see you all in the northwest Ohio area this spring. By the way, the next auto tour is April 18, followed by both May 9th and 10th. Rebecca Rebecca E. Hinkle Visitor Services Manager Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge 14000 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449 419-898-0014 ext. 17 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]