Just another chapter in shorebird sightings from this list during July's last week of another year. Draw lessons as ye will. Medusa Marsh 24 Jul 2001 Harry diCarlo The Whimbrel was still present at Medusa marsh at 1:30 tuesday afternoon. [present 22-31 July] Conneaut/Walnut Beach 24 July 2001 Jim McConnor Semipalmated Sandpiper @15 Least Sandpiper @ 6 Stilt Sandpiper ...3 S.B. Dowitcher....4 Pectoral Sandpiper....5 Solitary Sandpiper...1 Lesser Yellowlegs...2 Spotted Sandpiper @ 4 Semipalmated Plover @6 Sora ....1 At Walnut Beach Semipalmated Sandpipers @ 8-10 Avocet...2 Whimbrel...2 Killdeer located in abundance both locations Not as much habitat at either location this year due to lack of rain. Paulding Sewage Lagoons 24 July 201 Doug&Micki Dunakin Thanks to the watchfulness of John Yochum, we were treated to good looks at three Avocets at the Paulding Sewage lagoons this evening. For those interested, the Paulding lagoons are located about two miles northeast of the village on Johnson Road (Delorme, Page 34, south of C-3). The village has been draining the south lagoon, and we have been seeing some shorebirds that normally fly right on by. Ten species were present this evening, including Sanderlings, which are most uncommon for us and several Semipalmated Plovers. Alas, just before we left, an arriving Great Blue Heron spooked the Avocets, and they flew away. Will they return? Who knows? We'll keep an eye on the lagoon and post a followup tomorrow. Incidentally, the last time the village of Paulding undertook repairs on the lagoons at this time of year, we saw lots and lots of great birds, and for a couple of weeks, the lagoons were the hot spot in these parts for good shorebirding. Will history repeat itself? From all early indications, the answer seems to be "YES!" Medusa Marsh 25 July 2001 Joe Hammond 1 Semipalmated Plover Killdeer 3 AMERICAN AVOCETS 10 Greater Yellowlegs ~100 Lesser Yellowlegs 2 Spotted Sandpipers 1 Ruddy Turnstone 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 8 Least Sandpipers 20 Pectoral Sandpipers 4 Stilt Sandpipers 6 Short-billed Dowitchers 29 Caspian Terns 2 Common Terns 45 Forster's Terns Pickerel Creek 25 2001 July Joe Hammond Killdeer 1 Greater Yellowlegs ~20 Lesser Yellowlegs 3 Spotted Sandpipers 4 Least Sandpipers 20 Pectoral Sandpipers 11 Stilt Sandpipers 50 Short-billed Dowitchers 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoos Medusa, Pickerel Creek, Pipe Creek 27 July Peter Gottschling There were still two Avocets at the east end of the impoundment at Medusa this morning. They were on the far side sometimes behind the broken row of loosestrife. Paula Lozano found two Wilson's Phalaropes at Pickerel Creel about 9:30 AM. The first in the pond along the dike just before the trees at the end of the closed Vickery road section. The second was about 1/4 mile east of the corner looking south into an area with lots of dead trees and eagles. Park at the gate where Vickery road joins 6 and walk in (see Joe's directions below). There were also 40+ stilt sandpipers and even more short billed dowitchers. Pipe Creek contained the same variety as the other places. Take the left fork trail after entering and go straight to the only pond with water and mud. Central Ohio 27 July 2001 Rob Thorn Over the last two days I've stopped by 4 usually reliable shorebird sites around & in Columbus, and the news is not pretty. Hoover Reservoir: the North end had only minimal mudflat 2 days ago, before the recent rain and cooler weather. Only a few Kildeer, Spotted & Solitaries. Quite a few herons, though. Olentangy Wetland Research Park: reasonable mudflats yesterday, but few shorebirds (the same cast of characters as Hoover). Pickerington Ponds: virtually no mudflats this morning. Buckeye Lake: the impoundments that were so promising 4 weeks ago were in the process of being filled to the brim this morning. Needless to say, very few shorebirds. So, if you've a yen for sandpipers, Big Island is probably the best bet nearby, but it's arguably more profitable to make the drive up to Sandusky. East Fork State Park 28 July 2001 Hank Armstrong Dave Brinkman called to report the first shore birds of the season were spotted on the south swimming beach of East Fork SP There were two Sanderlings feeding among 19 Ring-billed Gulls and one Caspian Tern at the beach Sandusky Bay areas 28 July 2001 Bill Whan A bunch of us from Columbus hit the hotter shorebird spots in Erie and Sandusky Cos. today. Thanks to Mary Warren--see her earlier post--who greeted us at Medusa Marsh and pointed out a whimbrel and an avocet. We later located another avocet, a black tern, and two Wilson's phalaropes at this spot. Numbers of shorebirds here overall were down considerably from earlier in the week--no dowitchers, for example, only a couple of stilt sandpipers, and so on. Water from recent rains had apparently diminished the habitat--and of course species that benefit from deeper water had plenty of other places to go. A pintail was a surprise here. The area described earlier at Pickerel Creek WA had slightly higher water and fewer shorebird species, but at least had maybe 70 s-b dowitchers and ~40 stilt sandpipers, as well as another Wilson's Phalarope. All three phalaropes seen today were in basic plumage, and one of us had seen two in fading adult plumage only the day before, so this species is on the move. Nine eagles were seen at once here. Pipe Creek WA's Unit B (A is off-limits for tern nesting, and C&D now lack standing water and are heavily vegetated) had fewer shorebird species than it perhaps deserved, with some emerging mudflats along the margins. Stilt sandpipers far outnumbered dowitchers here, and here we found most of the day's peep spp, though nothing unusual. Another pintail showed up here. The Cedar Pt. Chausee had higher water than lately as well, but still had fair numbers of dowitchers, peep, yellowlegs, etc. An oddly-plumaged willet 400 yds off teased us for a while with thoughts of marbled godwit. Here and elsewhere appreciably numbers, maybe a hundred overall, Bonaparte's gulls had arrived, most in alternate plumage. We ended up with fifteen shorebird species, and some drier weather may improve the chances for more at these spots. Conneaut 29 July 2001 Kevin Metcalf I visited Conneaut Harbor for a while on Friday, 7/27. Most interesting bird was a MERLIN that harassed the shorebirds (mostly least and semipalm. sandpipers, semi. plovers, a few s.-b. dows.) but was not successful in catching anything while I was there. I wonder if this bird is an early migrant, or possibly a locally summering bird - did anyone note a merlin here anytime during the summer? Medusa Marsh 29 July Mary Warren The whimbrel and 4 avovets present this morning (about 8:00 am)at Medusa Marsh at west end. The avocets were all in the same field of view. Beautiful. Hope you get to see them soon. Caaesar Creek SP 30 July Larry Gara This AM there was one Semipalmated Sandpiper and one Sanderling on Caesar Creek beach along with the usual few Killdeer and the group of Ring-billed Gulls. Cowan Lake Sp 30 July Larry Gara This afternoon the spillway at Cowan Lake had: 2 Least Sandpipers 3 Spotted Sandpipers 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS 8 Killdeer The Marsh at the end of Lotus Trail had: 1 Lesser Yellowlegs l Least Sandpiper 2 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS 10 Killdeer Sheldon Marsh, Medusa Marhs 30 July 2001 Vic Fazio The mudflats at the western end of Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve were entirely exposed today and remain so for a couple of days under the current seiche conditions. As viewed from the Cedar Point Chausee, the following were tallied . . .150 Killdeer, 7 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 11 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 4 Spotted Sandpipers, 60 Least Sandpipers, 210 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 55 Short-billed Dowitchers, 1 Stilt Sandpiper, 140 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 4 Great Black-backed Gulls As previously reported the Medusa Marsh American Avocets and Whimbrel were readily seen up close this morning. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]