Today Jim Fry and I checked on the shorebird activity at the north end of Hoover Reservoir. We ran into several other birders that we know who were also on the lookout for new fallout from the fall migration. The mudflats are getting very extensive at the two sites we checked, the boardwalk at Area M and the mudflats off Pelican Island. Overall numbers of individuals were respectable and the variety normal for late July. The highlight has to be the Little Blue Heron that continues to forage without a care right off the end of the boardwalk. The views of the Little Blue Heron through a spotting scope are as good as it gets. The American Avocets were not seen either at the boardwalk or the Pelican Mudflats. They may still be around as there is plenty of habitat for them. Good locations to check include the mudflats off Wiese Road and Oxbow Road in addition to still keeping an eye out for them at the boardwalk. Both Great Blue Herons (30+) and Great Egrets (15-20) were abundant and everywhere you looked. A pair of American Coots was perched on a snag near the Big Walnut Creek channel as it cuts through the Area M mudflats. Shorebirds off the boardwalk included Semipalmated Plover (4), Killdeer (50+), Greater Yellowlegs (8), Lesser Yellowlegs (15), Solitary Sandpiper (2), Spotted Sandpiper (15), Semipalmated Sandpiper (30-35), Least Sandpiper (50+), Pectoral Sandpiper (20-25) and Stilt Sandpiper (1). There were many Cliff Swallows going in and out from their nests under the Old 3C Highway bridge. The last fledged Osprey is still around begging for attention. The mudflats around Pelican Island have become very extensive and most of the activity is far out near the water’s edge, although there are several areas where the ground level drops and small inlets have formed. Both areas were active with shorebirds, herons and egrets. Here too both Great Blue Herons (25+) and Great Egrets (15-20) were abundant and everywhere you looked. Shorebirds included Semipalmated Plover (2), Killdeer (75+), Greater Yellowlegs (10), Lesser Yellowlegs (10), Solitary Sandpiper (2), Spotted Sandpiper (20), Semipalmated Sandpiper (30-35), Least Sandpiper (50+), Pectoral Sandpiper (20-25) and Stilt Sandpiper (1 -2). The sand ridge near the water held Caspian Terns (30+) and Herring Gulls (5) in additional to the throng of Ring-billed Gulls. Charlie Bombaci for Myself and Jim Fry ______________________________________________________________________ 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]