Emil Bacik and I visited the following wildlife areas today (8/2): Pipe Creek WA - excellent habitat - continues to improve as water level drops: Ruddy Turnstone 1 flyby RED KNOT 1 near breeding plumage; paused for about five seconds with a pair of dows and then headed out - probably not the most suitable habitat Stilt Sandpiper 3 Short-billed Dowitcher 20 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER 1 Emil observed this bird flying away Common Snipe 2 Willow Point WA - inexplicably, very few shorebirds present; water levels in the pool to the south continue to drop, where most of today's birds were found: WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER 1 ad Short-billed Dowitcher 9 number way down only a handful of yellowlegs Pickerel Creek WA - Shorebirding is once again looking up at this location. The impoundment that I reported on a couple weeks ago, north of the woodlot, continues to cater to quite a few Short-billed Dowitchers, but the water has risen just a bit since then, leaving little muddy shoreline. The good news is that the impoundments north of the observation tower have come down quite a bit and are harboring quite a few yellowlegs and other longer-legged waders at the moment. With any luck, this area will be primo piper habitat very soon. Greater Yellowlegs 10 Lesser Yellowlegs 85 Solitary Sandpiper 5 Pectoral Sandpiper 10 Stilt Sandpiper 9 Short-billed Dowitcher 76 Common Snipe 1 WILSON'S PHALAROPE 2 perhaps these birds bred here? Orchard Oriole 8 Good birding - Gabe Leidy Cleveland ______________________________________________________________________ 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]