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Past Events	The Wilds - Inaugural Field Trip
Fall Warblers Magee	Fall Warblers Northeast
Gull Symposium	2005 Annual Meeting
Shorebird Symposium	Raptor Symposium

Shorebirds. The very word fills some birders with delight – but strikes identification terror into the hearts of others. Both kinds of birders showed up on August 27 for the OOS Shorebird Symposium: the shorebirdophiles (surely there is such a word) as well as those doubting their ability ever to tell a godwit from a curlew. There were delights aplenty for both groups.

I could provide a series of session-by-session summaries for those who couldn't make it – but that's too tall an order. Instead, let me give you a few impressions and thoughts, purely from the perspective of an attendee.

When Mary and I arrived at the Maumee Bay State Park conference center a little after 8:00, we were certain that most of the OOS membership was there ahead of us. OK, a few were missing, but it was a great pleasure to see so many people interested in our mutual obsession. Indeed, it was all that the Symposium volunteers could do to persuade us to stop the conversations, visits, and general catching up so that the sessions could begin.

And what sessions they were! Where to begin? Perhaps with Ottawa NWR manager Doug Brewer assuring us that our perceptions of more shorebird habitat at Ottawa are no illusion, as management practices now emphasize a wider variety of birds and habitats than ever before – great news for shorebird fans. Or maybe with Bob Russell tempting us to think lovely thoughts of Eskimo curlews – could there really be a few out there yet? Hey, if ivory-billed woodpeckers can pop up, why not a few curlews? Or perhaps with Doug Helmers giving us new appreciation for the complexities of habitat management, and new respect for what Doug Brewer and his colleagues do every year.

For many of us, a highlight of the conference was seeing our old (really, he's quite young) friend Jon Dunn, who traveled back here to his former home state to discuss some niceties of shorebird identification and distribution. We also realized the wisdom of our symposium planners, who scheduled Bob Royse in the always dangerous just-after-lunch time slot – who could possibly fall asleep while his spectacular photographs graced the screen? (Check his Web site at www.roysephotos.com for a sample). We can't forget Mark Shieldcastle's insights into the well-known BSBO monitoring programs, nor Caleb Putnam's whole new set of challenges – or are those opportunities? – for IDing shorebirds through their various molts.

Anyone who read the Ohio birding news after the conference knows that the afternoon field trip was a huge success – 30-some Hudsonian godwits?!?! Less well known were the results of the Sunday post-conference walks at Cedar Point NWR. Speaking only for the group I was with, I've never seen such a variety of dragonflies, damselflies, darners, and all sorts of other non-birdlike critters. How can Larry Rosche tell them apart? (That's exactly what my non-birding friends ask me about birds, but at last birds are a little bigger!) Oh, and did I mention the fine collection of chiggers?

While there was much to learn and much fun to be had at the conference, a few special points really stood out for me. First, let's not neglect the social aspect of these conferences. If you want to meet other birders, or catch up with those who you haven't seen in awhile, an OOS conference or symposium is a great way to do so.

On a related note, not only is it downright fun to share our common interest, but we should realize that we are a social and political force. Just think of it – two hundred people willing to pay good money to travel from all over Ohio (and a few nearby states) to hear about shorebirds! Count also the many more who have the patience to read this article about the conference, and it's easy to see that we should and do have a voice.

It's apparent that the management at Ottawa refuge complex has heard that voice. They opened up areas usually closed to the public, invited us in, and joined us on several of the field trips. And I have to think that they were impressed not only with the numbers but also with the enthusiasm of those attending the conference and field trips. Next time you're at Ottawa, or at any state or federal shorebird habitat, let those in charge know that you care!

And finally, I think it was Mark Shieldcastle who pointed out that the Lake Erie marshes may be the most important shorebird migration stopover point between the Delaware Bay and Cheyenne Bottoms. That's awesome – not only in the current sense of “impressive and cool,” but in the deeper sense, truly awe-inspiring. Shorebirds have been visiting these lands, these same marshes, for thousands of years. The next time you watch the sewing-machine feeding of a dowitcher or marvel at the chocolate brown elegance of a solitary sandpiper, you might stop to think that their fates, and the fates of races far older than ours, are in our hands right here in Ohio.

--Bill Heck, Oxford

OOS Shorebird Symposium Recap
By Jim McCormac, with help from Steve Landes and Jennifer Sauter

On Saturday, August 27th, over 200 shorebird enthusiasts descended on Maumee Bay State Park lodge for the OOS’s first shorebird symposium, conducted in partnership with the Toledo Naturalists’ Association http://www.toledonaturalist.org/ and the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Ottawa/.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the group enjoying the presentations.

It was quite a scene, all of these birders arriving to learn about shorebirds. Our accommodations, while luxurious and spacious, could barely contain all of the eager “scolopacophiles” (shorebirders). One of the great things about these events is getting to meet people from all quarters, or renew old acquaintances. Plenty of networking goes on, and lots of opportunities arise from new contacts. We had folks from every section of Ohio, and Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, not to mention Canada. The toughest part of being Master of Ceremonies was getting everyone back in their seats after breaks!

As part of the opening festivities, we gave away an autographed copy of Dennis Paulson’s outstanding book, Shorebirds of North America. Thanks to Dennis for signing that book for us. And congrats to Patricia Sampson, who was the lucky winner, having found the OOS logo sticker under her chair. Here she is receiving her special copy from OOS President Jim McCormac.

I’d be remiss in the extreme if I didn’t offer profuse thanks to all who made this event possible. Our partners with the Toledo Naturalists’ Association were great, and included President Nancy Bucher, Becky Cullen, Greg Links, Elliot Tramer, and a number of others. On the OOS side, Bill Whan was the leading proponent of doing the event and did much of the behind the scenes work. Jennifer Sauter probably did more work than any other individual to make this happen, and deserves tremendous credit. Many others helped out, including Steve Landes, Tom Kemp, Larry Rosche, Kent Bekker, and many others, and we thank you all.

The staff of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the manager, Doug Brewer, were fantastic. They went out of their way to accommodate our group, and make it possible for us to visit parts of the refuge that are normally off limits. Their increasing efforts to manage wetlands for shorebirds were a huge benefit to us, too, not to mention the birds. Special thanks also to Rebecca Hinkle, Public Use Specialist for the refuge, for all of the work she put into this.

Here’s Doug Brewer, manager of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, welcoming attendees and giving us an overview of refuge operations.

Our first speaker was Bob Russell of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who spoke about “Mysteries of Great Lakes Shorebirds”. Bob was a very interesting and engaging speaker, and one who knows his birds well in the field. He had just returned from a trip to eastern Canada to search for Eskimo Curlew, and Bob holds out an educated opinion that the species still survives. His program was chock full of interesting and not widely known facts about population numbers for different species, migratory pathways, and lots of other noteworthy tidbits.

Next up was Doug Helmers, with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Missouri. To say Doug’s talk was inspirational would be an understatement. To hear someone this influential in guiding wetland restoration and management promoting shorebird usage to the degree Doug did was wonderful. The man really knows his birds, too, and was able to talk on an extremely informed level about the various water regimes, seasonal timing, and food requirements for different shorebird species.

We were very fortunate to have Jon Dunn make sacrifices to attend, and speak. Jon cut short the American Ornithologists’ Union meeting in California to fly out and be a part of the conference, and we are very indebted to him for that. As about all of us know, Jon is one of the most knowledgeable ornithologists in the country, and is able to deliver his information in an understandable and very humorous way. Jon covered most of the shorebirds that one could expect to see in Ohio, and had a wealth of information about identification.

Following a nice lunch in the lodge, we managed to muster everyone back for the afternoon festivities. As this photo shows, and it shows but part of the room, it was a full house. Next time, we’ll have to find a bigger facility!

Bob Royse was first up after lunch. Normally, that’s a tough slot, as people tend to get sleepy post-meal, but not with this program. Bob, who is English horn player for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, has developed into one of North America’s most outstanding bird photographers. He ran through many of the shorebird species found in Ohio, drawing on his extensive library of work, many of the photos having been taken in Ohio. You know a photo is stunning when it draws a spontaneous “oooohhhh” or “aaaaaahhh” from the crowd, which a number of Bob’s photos did.

After Bob came Mark Shieldcastle, who spoke about management of Lake Erie marshes and population densities of the shorebirds that use them. Mark is a biologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and a co-founder of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Few if any have Mark’s extensive experience with Lake Erie coastal habitats, and he did an outstanding job of sharing some of the problems that managers face with various aspects of marsh management. He also drew on his many years of censusing birds in the region to share facts about distribution patterns for different species.

Last, but by no means least, was Caleb Putnam. Caleb has a very interesting background in ornithology, having worked with the endangered Kirtland’s warbler, sought the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkanasas, and co-authored the Birds of Montana. Caleb has conducted outstanding research into the cycles of feather molt that different species of shorebirds have, and recently published an article on dowitcher molt in Birding magazine. He had lots of fascinating tidbits about using molt to help ID shorebirds, including information not well known and certainly not included in most books on shorebird identification.

Finally, after all of the speakers had concluded, it was off to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to see some shorebirds firsthand. The impoundment above was specifically manipulated by the refuge to provide outstanding shorebird habitat, and it did. Not only were participants able to see several species of shorebirds at very close range, this wetland also attracted up to a dozen Snowy Egrets at a time – a very good congregation for Ohio.

To insure that water levels for optimal shorebird habitat coincided perfectly with our symposium, refuge staff had this pump hard at work the night before our event. Their hard work certainly paid off!

It was quite an experience, having some 200 birders out in the refuge at one time, and a very special opportunity, as we got to visit a section that is normally off limits. The birding was fantastic in the above impoundment; at least 20 species of shorebirds were present at one time. Highlights included Hudsonian and Marbled Godwits, and Red-necked and Wilson’s Phalaropes.

This impoundment was packed with birds, including lots of herons, egrets, waterfowl, and occasionally, Bald Eagles. Scads of shorebirds, too, and because there was such a diversity of habitat – everything from open water to relatively dry, vegetated flats, we could really study the different habitat niches that different species utilize.

Not only does creating mudflats benefit shorebirds, it also provides a habitat for plants that are the very early successional stage pioneers that move in to stabilize open soils. As a group, this suite of plants has become perhaps the rarest plant community in the Great Lakes, as good, naturally occurring mudflats have been mostly stabilized out of existence. In the olden days, these coastal marshes were regularly ravaged by storms raging inland from Lake Erie, and the wave action destroyed marsh vegetation, creating mudflats. Up from the seedbanks within the mud would arise colonizing mudflat plants, which depend on this under-appreciated habitat. I was delighted to find a population of the above plant, Southern Wapato, Sagittaria calycina, growing in one of the impoundments that had been lowered by refuge staff. This species is quite rare in Ohio.

This Willet, an uncommon species at best in Ohio, was lurking along one of the Ottawa impoundments. Saddled with one of the most awkward of scientific names, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus, this moniker nonetheless demonstrates the lessons that can be learned by these usually ignored epithets. Catoptrophorus means “bearing mirrors” in reference to the flashy wing stripes of the Willet, and semipalmatus means “half-webbed”, which alludes to the partially webbed feet – an adaptation that better allows Willets to navigate their muddy haunts.

Those participants that stuck around for the Sunday trips were rewarded with this incredibly tame juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper, found by Steve Landes on the beach at Maumee Bay Resort. The bird was feeding in the grassy parking lot islands, and sometimes came within feet of observers. I suspect that we were the first humanoids it had seen.

The special Sunday field trips went into the Cedar Point section of Ottawa, which was a treat indeed. This site is not open to the general public. We had four field trips, all with different focuses. Tom Kemp led one strictly for birds; Kent Bekker took his group in pursuit of reptiles and amphibians; Larry Rosche’s group pursued dragonflies and damselflies; and my group looked at the botany of the refuge, with an emphasis on finding rare plants.

Here’s Larry Rosche and company studying dragonflies. The following species of Odonata were seen in the refuge over this weekend: Common Green Darner Anax junius
Common Pondhawk Erythemis simplicicollis
Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis
Wandering Glider Pantala flavescens
Eastern Amberwing Perithemis tenera
Common Whitetail Plathemis lydia
White-faced Meadowhawk Sympetrum obtrusum
Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata
Ebony Jewelwing Calopteryx maculata
Slender Spreadwing Lestes rectangularis
Variable Dancer Argia fumipennis
Familiar Bluet Enallagma civile
Orange Bluet Enallagma signatum
Fragile Forktail Ischnura posita
Eastern Forktail Ischnura verticalis

Here’s a White-tailed Skimmer captured by Larry’s group for inspection.

My group, although supposedly botanizing, was distracted by this bizarre Horsehair Worm on the beach at Cedar Point. Legend has it that horse hairs, upon falling in water, would transform into these worms, hence the name.

Here’s a rare plant – Purple Sand Grass, Triplasis purpurea, on the beach at Cedar Point. The beach here has a fantastic plant community of sand-loving species that are now quite rare in Ohio. We saw lots of great plants throughout the refuge, including the following rarities:

Inland Sea Rocket, Cakile edentula
Seaside Spurge, Euphorbia polygonifolia
Southern Wapato, Sagittaria calycina
Deer’s-tongue Arrowhead, Sagittaria rigida
Schweinitz’s Umbrella-sedge, Cyperus schweinitzii
American Three-square Bulrush, Schoenoplectus americanus
Purple Sand Grass, Triplasis purpurea
Wild Rice, Zizania aquatica

We also were distracted by those showy flower pollinators, the butterflies, and were fortunate to see a Giant Swallowtail – always a treat – wing by. The western Lake Erie marshes are great for butterflies, and many birders are into this group of insects. Hence, quite a nice list of species was compiled over the course of the symposium, as follows:

Red Admiral
Summer Azure
Eastern Tailed Blue
Common Buckeye
Eastern Comma
Pearl Crescent
Southern Dogface
Meadow Fritillary
Monarch
American Painted Lady
Painted Lady
Red Spotted Purple
Question Mark
Fiery Skipper
Least Skipper
Peck’s Skipper
Silver-spotted Skipper
Common Sooty-wing
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Black Swallowtail
Giant Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail
Viceroy
Cabbage White

As would be expected, whenever 200 birders are unleashed in a small area, a great species list will be accumulated. We had a total of 145 species, including 29 species of shorebirds. Not bad for August! The total list for the weekend is at the end of this report.

We thank everyone who attended the Shorebird Symposium, and look forward to future events. The OOS plans and organizes events such as this on a regular basis around Ohio, involving many facets of ornithology. We welcome comments and opinions on what birders would like to see us doing, too, so please feel free to share

COMPLETE BIRD LIST — OOS SHOREBIRD SYMPOSIUM
August 27th and 28th, 2005 — Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Nothern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
American Woodcock
Wilson's Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow