Does anyone have any special interest in/information on the future of piping plovers in Ohio? They used to nest on Ohio beaches on Lake Erie, with the last nest recorded in 1942. Now they are sought-after migrants only. Beach protection projects (not, as I understand it, lower lake levels) have served plovers in the upper Great Lakes well, and the overall numbers of the midwestern population have experienced a satisfying growth over the past couple of decades. Is it too much to hope for a piping plover nest here? We do have at least one protected beach--at Cedar Point NWR, which seems to have acceptable habitat. Now that at Crane Creek the beach is part of a Wildlife Area, perhaps it too may be more inviting to piping plovers, or enhanced to do so. The habitat needs of human bathers and nesting plovers have been too similar, but the conflict shouldn't exist here. With the habitat protected against human competitors, lake levels may remain a problem. Are Ohio's protected beaches so narrow as a result of those levels that they won't support breeding plovers? The Crane Creek beach is pretty wide, but much of it is shaded by big cottonwoods--would this be a problem? As for Cedar Point, has anyone considered relocating dredged sand there to restore plover/common tern habitat? Both used to nest there, the terns in the thousands. High lake levels are often invoked to explain low numbers of migrant shorebirds, as well as to justify the nearly-complete armoring of the Lake Erie shore in the western basin by stone dikes, but warming--call it "moderation" if you like--of the climate will lead to much lower levels in the decades to come, leaving the dikes as mere reminders of mistakes, or if you insist necessities, of the past. Perhaps all we need to restore these birds is simply to wait, and stay out of the way. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]