I had a chance over the last 2 days to hit Delaware reservoir (off Panhandle Rd), Alum Creek Lake (upper end off Hogback Rd), and Hoover reservoir (Area N yesterday). The contrast couldn't be more striking. Water levels at Delaware and Alum Lake (both flood control reservoirs) are still quite high, but Hoover (as Charlie B. noted) is startlingly low. This is reflected in the shorebird and wader totals from the 3 sites (where I put in about 30 minutes at each): Delaware AlumCreek Hoover Great Blue Heron 2 3 22 Great Egret 3 Kildeer 3 12 70 Pectoral Sandpiper 15 Dunlin 10 Least Sandpiper 3 Ring-billed Gull 30 15 50 Bonaparte's Gull 40 10 At Delaware, the nearby Leonardsburg Road marsh was quite high, but had hardly any waterfowl (only 10 Coot). Alum Lake at Hogback had a few cormorants, but little else. Hoover had lots of Geese (500+), along with some cormorants and Mallards. For raptors, Delaware had 70+ Turkey Vultues, while Alum & Hoover had far fewer; Hoover, however, made up for it with an immature Bald Eagle perched near the mudflats. All of these sites still look interesting and should be productive for waterfowl as the Fall wears on. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]