Greetings! Big Island Wildlife Area seems to be in a state of flux right now...as is everywhere right now. ;-) The Redheads, Scaup, Gadwall,and Ring-necked Ducks are giving way to Both Teal species, Ruddies, and Coots. A few Common Mergansers remain in the center pond on LaRue Prospect. The Shorebirds are starting to filter through. Snipe and Woodcock are both being seen daily. I have had reports to me of Yellowlegs, but personally I haven't seen them in the limited amount of time I have per day. I have had Pectoral Sandpipers, but they were on a back road near the border of Union County. Most of the flooded areas are now almost dry, so any shorebird passing through will probably be in the shallow areas of the ponds. A single Great Egret was out in one of the ponds feeding. Great Blue Heron were everywhere. A small flock of Rusties made its way back to the edge of the woods as I was watching the Tree Swallows vying for "apartments". Best find (for me) of the day was a Sandhill Crane in one of the cornfields on LaRue Prospect hanging out with about a dozen Turkeys. If I can make it up to Killdeer before the weekend, I will give a report for there, but it looked like things were starting to turn over last week. Today's list follows. Some were on SR 95, but most were back on LaRue Prospect. : Happy Birding and God Bless Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion, Ohio, US Mar 29, 2016 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM Protocol: Traveling 5.0 mile(s) Comments: From Herr Rd to Western Edge of Wildlife Area 45 species Canada Goose 200 Trumpeter Swan 4 Wood Duck 8 Mallard 12 Blue-winged Teal 30 Northern Shoveler 12 Green-winged Teal 2 Redhead 25 Common Merganser 4 Ruddy Duck 24 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 Wild Turkey 12 Pied-billed Grebe 8 Double-crested Cormorant 5 Great Blue Heron 15 Great Egret 1 Turkey Vulture 12 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 5 Red-tailed Hawk 2 American Coot 40 Sandhill Crane 1 Killdeer 20 Wilson's Snipe 2 American Woodcock 1 Ring-billed Gull 10 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2 Mourning Dove 15 American Kestrel 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 8 Horned Lark 4 Tree Swallow 100 Eastern Bluebird 2 American Robin 30 European Starling 25 American Tree Sparrow 14 Field Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 8 Swamp Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 2 Red-winged Blackbird 75 Eastern Meadowlark 4 Rusty Blackbird 15 Brown-headed Cowbird 50 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28631249 <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2115-v2-b> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2115-v2-b> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> ______________________________________________________________________ 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]