I headed to the Deer Creek Wildlife Area (Fayette and Pickaway Cos.) this afternoon and had a look around. I have visited the are about once a week or so over this past month, and only now is the water level of the reservoir descending a little bit and the first mudflats are just beginning to appear. Some years the water level is noticeably drawn down at the beginning of Oct., so this year is very late. The fishermen like that, but the reservoir hasn't been good for shorebirds this fall until today. It just takes a little bit of habitat to attract them. This afternoon in addition to a large number of Killdeers (100+), there were a Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Least Sandpipers, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 7 Dunlins. Better late than never.

Although I didn't make it there today, the wetlands in the southern portion of DCWA hasn't offered shallow enough water for shorebirds this fall except the occasional Greater Yellowlegs. I looked for LeConte's and Nelson's Sparrows there earlier this month, but never did find any. There sure seems to be plenty of good habitat for them and I suspect it's just of a matter of being in the right time and place before they're found there. Bald Eagles (including 2 1st year birds) and N Harriers have been present all season since at least mid-Sept. in the wetlands, and I think that both species nest in the area somewhere in that area. 

Sparrow numbers and variety in general have been as good as usual this fall including today. Sparrow species noted today included E. Towhee, Field, Savannah, Vesper, Song, Swamp, Fox, White-cr, White-thr, and D-e Junco. I didn't see and Am. Tree Sparrows yet, but they might be around in small numbers. In any case, they'll be ubiquitous soon enough. Notable passerines today included an E. Phoebe, and a late Indigo Bunting. Also seen today was a grand sweep of all 7 regular Ohio woodpeckers.

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
[log in to unmask]
www.roysephotos.com


__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4545 (20091026) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com


______________________________________________________________________

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]