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

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