Sent from my iPad On Jun 15, 2013, at 3:46 PM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > We visited the Columbus Upground Reservoir in NW Delaware County > yesterday, and because it's still under construction couldn't get near > enough to see much. Current plans are to flood it this fall. As an > upground reservoir it does not sit on a natural watercourse, and will be > filled by water pumped from the nearby Scioto River. It will eventually > be joined by two other reservoirs nearby in time to come. > The plans encourage birding as an activity, with prairie species in > addition to migrant waterfowl, etc. See official statements at > http://www.columbusupgroundreservoirs.com/pdfs/Upground2012.pdf and > http://www.columbusupgroundreservoirs.com/ . > If I understand correctly, this is the first of a trio of > reservoirs which will store water pumped out of the Scioto, from which > water will be pumped back to the river in times of the city's need. This > first one covers 843 acres. It won't be connected to the existing > reservoirs (except to O'Shaughnessy, which is pretty much only widened > Scioto River downstream). Still, it will be one more large body of water > in central Ohio; it should be up and running by the fall waterfowl > migration. Apparently natural water supplies are not convenient for > greening up the golf courses and lawns of the capital city. > I'm guessing levels in this reservoir will be changing as it is > artificially filled and drawn down, so water depth and extents of > mudflats will change on a very different schedule than those of a place > like upper Hoover Reservoir. So perhaps it will offer habitats to > water-loving migrants such as shorebirds when other bodies of water do not. > In the first years after Hoover Res was flooded in the mid '50s, > reports of up to 30,000 waterfowl present at once were heard. As Hoover > has silted up and suffered from increased chemical contamination, these > numbers have declined steadily. The Hoover spillway, not the upper > reaches, seems to have been the reservoir's first shorebird mecca, with > many records of rarities in the first five years or so, but no more. > Still, choosy visitors like royal tern and long-tailed jaeger have > visited there in recent years. > The new reservoirs up in NW Delaware County will be unique in the > state--at least as far as I know--with giant grass-covered berms (as yet > unmowed!), no dams or natural inlets or outlets, and a water-level > regime that will depend more on browning grass in the Columbus suburbs > than on natural influences. If nothing else, it should provide some > unique habitat on a unique schedule, and we could learn a lot about > birds by keeping an eye on it. It's only about half-way to Killdeer > Plains from Columbus, and should have water this fall. > 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]