Some friends and I birded around Deer Creek SP yesterday (two white pelicans, 24 snipes, two lesser yellowlegs, beaucoup tree swallows among the more routine species of this date) and noted migrant gulls and arriving shorebirds along the "shores" of the riverside pools in the center of the Lake basin. These will soon routinely be flooded to provide recreation for humans, per the usual plans. Can anyone tell me exactly when that will happen this year, or where I can find out without phone calls? I'm guessing that just beforehand would be the best time to look for birds of the natural habitat in spring. I also stopped at the Worthington Public Library (bless 'em) and found two books well worth recommending--among all the repetitive slush about finding and identifying birds--which I promise to return soon: 1. "Sandhill and Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices over America's Wetlands" (2011, Paul Johnsgard, 147 pp). The author is a scientist and expert in the birds of the prairies, and a graceful writer. Has much of what you will be glad to learn about these creatures, and up to date: the recent recovery in Ohio and neighboring states is covered. The author reasonably argues against hunting of cranes. 2. "Alexander Wilson: the Scot who Founded American Ornithology" (2013, E. H. Burtt, W. E. Davis, 444 pp.). This is a rich and unique study, quite readable for birders--much illustrated in color images unpublished heretofore--about the life and work of Alexander Wilson (d. 1813), friend of Thomas Jefferson and Wm. Bartram, who wrote and illustrated a brilliant nine-volume Ornithology well before Audubon. The lead author is Edward H. Burtt, the invaluable ornithologist at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware. Please note that Wilson's name is part of more North American bird species names than anyone else's! Good birds, Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]