I wonder if a current or former employee is the most dispassionate person to offer praise for ODNR. The writer, who is undeniably a genuine lover of wild birds of all species, still finds it necessary to say the area mentioned is "paid for by hunting and fishing license." KPWA has a decidedly checkered history with the birding and scientific communities, and the first question one might ask is if the fall draw-downs actually have--in writing--anything whatsoever to say about planned stopover habitat for migrant shorebirds illegal to kill, but rather quite different considerations for hunting (including several species of shorebirds, of course). I agree with the writer that this particular instance is good luck for shorebirds, but this seems to be a genuine example of happenstance--"accidental habitats"--rather than official concern for non-game species like turnstones (black-bellied plovers and Wilson's snipes are game birds in Ohio statutes, with the former only temporarily disallowed). Bill Whan Columbus On 9/3/2014 10:21 PM, Tim Daniel wrote: > Spent some time with the Hudsonian Godwits @ Big Island Wildlife Area > and then drove to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area to take a look @ the > pond #27 shorebirds. A good number of the usual characters with the > highlight being a black-bellied plover, 2 ruddy turnstones and 3 > Wilson's Snipe along the Western edge of the pond. Both areas are > owned and managed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and paid for by > hunting and fishing license. Good job ODNR! > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]