Our Columbus group did a little loop through central Ohio dividing our time between passerines and shorebirds. We encountered a dearth of the former and a satisfying number of the latter. We spent productive time at two shorebird spots, finding eleven then twelve species, a total of 17. I wonder if the hordes who visited other spots today did any better. At Killdeer the spot is the twin impoundments on the north side of C71 just east of T108. There is a pullout accommodating two cars. The best viewing is just 25 feet in. The right-hand one has more water and more vegetation, and had gallinules, soras, coots, etc. as well as 30-40 snipes. The left-hand one had more variety: grassy and muddy edge, mudflats, and shallows. Here we had an Am. golden-plover, semipalmated plovers, killdeers, lesser yellowlegs, a sanderling, semipalmated sp, least sp, Baird's sp (3), stilt sp, long-billed dowitcher, and Wilson's snipes. At the Darby MP wetlands in Franklin County (northern pond) we saw semipalmated plovers, killdeers, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, semipalmated sp, western sp (1), least sp, white-rumped sp (4), pectoral sp, stilt sp (20+ nearly all juv), Wilson's phalarope, and red-necked phalarope (2). I was pleased to see (undoubtedly thanks to Metro Parks staff) a narrow path had been made out to this site that spared the prairie vegetation. To find it, go to the grove of trees where the bike path crosses the road south of Kuhlwein. There is an old driveway there, running east. Near its end near the big walnut tree a trampled trail in the orchard grass leads off to the right, then east. This trail runs along the border between the park's prairie and the soybean field on the north. After a few hundred yards it meets a road-sized mowed trail; follow this toward the water visible in the distance. The shorebirds are in the closest, NW corner of the pond and easy to observe with afternoon light. Please use this path if you go; it makes things very easy, and preserves the vegetation. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]