Crane Creek (as viewed from Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge) - Wed. was in excellent condition for shorebirds but as yet only held a few dozen Pectoral Sandpipers according to a third party.
Turtle Creek (from Rt. 2) - a bit on the high side and nothing as yet.
Turtle Creek (from Lemon Rd. Bridge - very good to excellent -
a place to investigate on northerly winds which otherwise inundate the
other esturaries.
Turtle Creek (from Duff-Washa to Benton-Carroll) - may deserve more
attention than birders have given in the past.
Toussaint River (upstream of W.A.) - don't forget this area when the
water is high as seen from the fisherman's access off Rt. 19)
Toussaint River (from fisherman's access) - recently inundated by
persistent NE winds but should be quite good - held Pecs this past
Sunday as per Zac Baker's report.
Little Portage River (from Oak-Harbor SE Rd. - connects Rts 53 and 19)
- as good as last year or almost perfect; held 278 Pecs and 16 Dunlin
Wed. while Friday tallied 347 Pecs and 2 Dunlin. Thursday was wholly
underwater - again those nasty northeasterlies. Tomorrow should be
excellent.
Little Portage River (from Muddy Creek Rd. - just upstream) - favored
by Lesser Yellowlegs and snipe; Wed. held 17 LEYE. Total estuary
count for Wed. was 26 Greater Yellowlegs and 25 Lesser.
Little Portage River (from Little Portage W.A. - follow Mulcahy Rd N
off Oak-Harbor SE Rd.) - occasionally low enough to augment numbers
of Pectorals, otherwise snipe, Killdeer, and yellowlegs. The wildlife
area itself is highly variable and has NOT been friendly to shorebirds
since 1995 and 1996. Up to 55 Solitary Sandpiper in one cell in 1995.
I have not run the dikes at LPWA this year.
Meadowbrook Lake (Marblehead Peninsula) - looking excellent (on SW seiches) as of 3 weeks ago but I have not been by since the shorebirds have moved in.
Wrightman's Grove - again extensive mudflats but I have never experienced shorebird concentrations here. Nothing yesterday.
Racoon Rd. wetlands (west of Pickerel Creek) - actually had 24 Pectorals yesterday at the new wildlife area near Yellow Swale. But this was probably a fluke - habitat remains undeveloped. Only yellowlegs habitat otherwise to be found at private wetlands.
Pickerel Creek - water higher than usual (going by past 5 years) - still should be among better sites for snipe. If you want 100 snipe on an early April morning, this is a good bet. SW seiche should expose bayside flats - presently we know little of the possibilities. I have seen Dunlin and dowitcher here.
Medusa Marshes - water presently too high.
Pipe Creek W.A. (off Cedar Point causeway) - water high; some lowering under extreme seich conditions.
Sheldon Marsh SNP (from west side causeway) - looking as good as it ever has - excellent. However, only 10 Dunlin yesterday. Sheldon Marsh SNP (from main preserve entrance) - Thursday dry flats - may be a safe harbor for shorebirds during high water elsewhere.
Huron River flats (from River Rd. off rt. 6 in Huron). Excellent and more extensive. One of few sites to benefit from high water seiches. Check from three sites. A pull-off immediately south of the double set of railroad tracks. This is an entirely different portion of the river flats that up until this year was wholly inundated. apart from a dozen egrets and a Forster's Tern yesterday - nothing of note. No shorebirds were detected from the observation pull-offs nearer the Rt. 2 overpass. Not a great spring site (better in fall) but worth checking at the height of spring shorebird migration in May.
Roadsides - the typical shorebirding in NW Ohio is done from roadsides looking over farm fields. Prior to the recent warm front an attendant torrential rains, all shorebird fields were dry. Even Park Colony in Jerusalem Twp (Lucas Co.) was dry. I suspect that landscape has changed and the rainfall of the next couple of days will determine the extent of such shorebird habitat for the April migration. Heading home yesterday afternoon, the traditional site at the corner of Rt. 2 and Rt. 19 between Davis-Besse power plant and Turtle Creek showed several acres of flooding.
For specific locations please refer to a Delorme Gazeteer road atlas of Ohio available in most book stores.