Rick Asamoto and I were searching for shorebirds between Dayton and Grand Lake St Mary today finding 9 species. The Great Miami River had limited habitat between Carillon Park and the Washington St bridge due to recent rains raising the water level. The Great Miami Mitigation Bank pond water was too deep and offered Mallards and Wood Ducks. Wood Road in Darke County could use a little rain as it had limited habitat holding about 75 Killdeer, 1 Semi-palmated Plover, 1 Pectoral, 1 Stilt, 1 Spotted, 2 Least and 2 Lesser Yellowlegs. The left most pond held water too deep for most shorebirds but will get better if it does not rain. The middle pond where most of the shorebirds were found has a small shallow pool and could use some rain. The right pond was completely dry and held a few Killdeer and a Spotted. Goldilocks Syndrome? Mercer County WA had "marginal" habitat about two feet wide around the pond and held Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, Semi-palmated and Least Sandpipers. The St Mary Fish Hatchery ponds were all full to the brim except for two ponds at the back of the archery area that were completely dry. These two ponds would be very good with some rain. If you are looking for shorebirds the best areas may be along western Lake Erie in the north, Lorain Impoundment?, Franklin County or western Hamilton County in the south. I base this on our observations to -- John Habig Carlisle, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]