Greetings! Below are summaries of my trip to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. My surprises of the days were the Marbled Godwit at pond 27. I had seen it last month...and it is STILL THERE! :-) And spotting an American Bittern before it spotted me at pond 3...to far away for pictures though. Disappointment...no loons yet. :-( As far as conditions go, most ponds are showing a lot of uncovered islands...or in pond 27's case, almost completely dry/muddy. There is a lot of turnover in species going on. Shorebirds, though still present are few unless we are talking about Killdeer. Ducks are starting to trickle in. Coots are like their own little islands in places. I also swung by Big Island...lots of hunting going on there all over the place...wear orange...The ponds along LaRue Prospect are holding a little of everything...except Coots and Pied-billed Grebes...LOTS of those. :-) Shorebirds are still present in the East pond of the three ponds. Along with a few ducks. The middle pond held all the Coots and Grebes. The west pond was lacking in visible activity...but there was a lot of hunting going on in there. Just realized...we are less that a month away from Short-eared Owls! Yay!..I usually will see them at Big Island around Thanksgiving. If you are looking for some fun activities to do in the upcoming months, the Birding Ohio Scavenger Hunt "Calender" is still in my Dropbox. It has been suggested that if you are a part time birder...meaning you still have a full time job, that maybe 60-70 is a good number to shoot for. The kids will be going for the top 50 for Marion County... Anyhew, you can download it below. Enjoy!: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3220c8dw2w6czwu/Ohio%20Scavenger%20Hunt%202014-2015.pdf?dl=0 Happy Birding and God Bless! Steve J. Bird Summaries: Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area--Reservoir, Wyandot, US-OH Oct 25, 2014 11:07 AM - 11:27 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: NO LOONS! :-( 7 species Canada Goose 25 Mallard 10 Ruddy Duck 25 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 2 Red-winged Blackbird 300 American Goldfinch 5 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20332498 Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area--Harold Roe Wetland, Wyandot, US-OH Oct 25, 2014 11:40 AM - 12:00 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Submitted from BirdLog NA for Android v1.9.6 16 species Canada Goose 20 Mallard 10 Ruddy Duck 2 Pied-billed Grebe 4 Great Blue Heron 1 Turkey Vulture 2 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 1 American Coot 10 Killdeer 20 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Long-billed Dowitcher 4 Mourning Dove 2 American Kestrel 1 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 2 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20332561 Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area, Wyandot, US-OH Oct 25, 2014 10:56 AM - 11:58 AM Protocol: Traveling 10.0 mile(s) Comments: Observations made while driving between hotspots. Submitted from BirdLog NA for Android v1.9.6 28 species Great Blue Heron 2 Turkey Vulture 3 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Mourning Dove 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-headed Woodpecker 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 2 American Kestrel 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 4 Horned Lark 2 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 European Starling 30 Song Sparrow 2 Swamp Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 1 White-crowned Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco 3 Northern Cardinal 2 Red-winged Blackbird 200 Eastern Meadowlark 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 30 Pine Siskin 2 American Goldfinch 5 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20334845 Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area--Pond 3, Wyandot, US-OH Oct 25, 2014 12:30 PM - 12:42 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Submitted from BirdLog NA for Android v1.9.6 6 species Mallard 3 Ruddy Duck 4 Pied-billed Grebe 20 American Bittern 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Belted Kingfisher 1 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20332493 Marseilles, T-108, Wyandot, US-OH Oct 25, 2014 12:40 PM - 12:50 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Submitted from BirdLog NA for Android v1.9.6 8 species Canada Goose 2 American Black Duck 6 Mallard 4 Pied-billed Grebe 6 Killdeer 15 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Wilson's Snipe 5 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20332489 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]