It's great to hear shorebird habitat will be discussed this weekend at ONWR, and that many folks seem interested in attending this talk. I too hope the proceedings can be made available for those of us who cannot attend, and that perhaps further discussion can be conducted in this mailing list. Providing habitat for shorebirds should naturally play a part in scientific management for large government-owned wetlands in our region; after all, more species of shorebirds occur in Ohio than waterfowl, warblers, or sparrows. I'd like to suggest a few topics that folks interested in shorebirds--or in biodiversity in general, as many other native animals use these habitats--might bring up to make sure the discussion looks into how shorebird habitat management is actually being conducted in our northwestern marshes, and to what extent it's succeeding. How, for example, is management correcting mistakes of the past? Altering marshes to benefit hunters of waterfowl and hunters/trappers of other game species has practically extinguished healthy nesting populations of other birds: the black tern is a good example. Milton Trautman, himself an avid duck hunter, repeatedly made this point. Terns and ducks seem to get along quite well in more natural settings elsewhere--such as in the prairie potholes--as do shorebirds. Has diking off the marshes almost completely, with the necessary exception of the Crane Creek estuary, promoted increased numbers of shorebirds (or fishes, or molluscs, or insects), or diminished them? The answer seems to be "No." The estuary was where the surviving members of an important population of molluscs, being killed by the diking of Metzger Marsh, were relocated on an emergency basis to preserve them, because its habitats were not so disconnected from Lake Erie. As a less confined water source, it was also where by far the largest numbers of Ottawa's shorebirds have been seen in the last decade, providing the lion's share of the numbers that made it possible to have this area designated in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. As for Metzger Marsh, how many of the shorebirds observed since its diking have appeared merely because of a few draw-downs conducted for unrelated reasons such as phragmites control (such as when 9000 dunlins were estimated there in May 2004, and nothing close to that number since)? Many migrant shorebirds rely on mudflats and shallows, which in turn rely on changing water levels, which in turn rely on either natural processes or expensive mechanical pumping. Ask how managers plan to encourage natural water-level fluctuations beyond what little exists today. Unusual and temporary conditions here have produced impressive accumulations of shorebirds. The most memorable incursion of shorebirds in Magee Marsh in the modern era occurred (unintentionally) with the temporary draw-down of an impoundment near Turtle Creek in the fall of 1996 (and never since). 1996 was also a great fall for shorebirds at Metzger, just before it was flooded behind the new dike, and also the year when the highest recent published count of black terns (120) was made there. Metzger Marsh was once the largest fall molting site in eastern North America for long-billed dowitchers. Also in 1996, Jon Dunn reported 156 there; since the diking they are no longer found in Metzger Marsh, with diminished numbers now irregularly resorting to areas in ONWR. Why was it that during this spring and many other springs in recent memory, birders were likely to see more shorebird migrants resting and feeding on barren agricultural fields outside the marshes, rather than in areas inside presumably intended to manage for them? Why did the little area on Benton-Carroll Rd, so good for shorebirds when it was in private hands last year and before, suddenly invite hardly any this spring after its acquisition (and, inevitably, dike construction) by ONWR managers? The latest Ottawa census produced the following shorebirds: 23 killdeers, one least sandpiper, and one American woodcock; last month's census had 100 dunlins, with numbers of killdeers, greater yellowlegs, snipes, and solitary sandpipers that totaled 26. The Magee & Cedar Point censuses are no longer announced, but were they just as anemic for a WHSRN site? Obviously the numbers of shorebirds occurring in the NW marshes are highly dependent on how their former habitats are now managed. An extensive network of diked impoundments designed mostly for ducks, which is pretty much what managers have to work with, is only with difficulty converted to more natural marsh habitats, which elsewhere largely manage themselves when they take part in a natural hydrological system. Funds are limited, and those for non-game species especially so. It is therefore understandable that most often shorebirds here seem ignored, and their numbers usually suffer. When once in a while they flourish, it is usually as a result of unrelated temporary habitat alterations whose benefits to them were unintended. Some may say shorebirds are actually around in much healthier numbers, just out of sight in some inaccessible areas away from the roads and paths open to the public. Ask for verification: careful surveys have been taken of shorebirds for decades, some weekly and some monthly, out in the back areas of the public wetlands; seldom do their numbers support this assertion, acre by acre. Maybe shorebirds don't really need stopover sites in Ohio: they are prodigious fliers; but it seems dangerous to assume this. There are good scientists at our public agencies, and they know the state of the art about habitat management for non-game species, including shorebirds. There are a lot of powerful influences that place the needs of shorebirds way down on the list of management priorities. I hope this reality is openly presented. Our scientists can give an informative talk about the subject. We need to ask how willing, or able, they are to follow their own advice. Bill Whan Columbus Laura Bonneau wrote: > Sorry about the late notice, but this might be of interest to some of you! > > Naturally Speaking: "Managing Habitat for Shorebirds," Sunday, June > 13th, 2:00 p.m. > > Thousands of shorebirds migrate through northwest Ohio each spring and > fall. How can public and private lands be managed to provide prime > shorebird habitat during these times? Come learn important habitat > management tips and considerations from Mark Shieldcastle, Research > Director for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, > June 13th. This free, informative presentation is part of Ottawa National > Wildlife Refuge Association's "Naturally Speaking" seminar series, held on > the second Sunday of each month (excluding holidays) at Ottawa National > Wildlife Refuge's visitor center. > > Laura A. Bonneau > Visitor Services Specialist > U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service > Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge > 14000 West State Route 2 > Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 > (419) 898-0014 > www.fws.gov/midwest/ottawa ______________________________________________________________________ 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/. 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