Shorebirding Tour 
                      of Lake Erie Shoreline 
                        in Northwest Ohio


From southeast Michigan get to the first location as early as 
possible in the morning.  Shorebird sites should be visited in 
the order listed in order to make the best use of morning and 
afternoon light.  Some years some of these sites will not have 
good shorebird habitat (too much water or no water at all), in 
which case they would be excluded from the tour.  Beg, borrow, 
or steal a scope if you don't have one.

    SITE                            LIGHT IS BEST

 1. Maumee Bay State Park           always good at beach 
    (beach; marsh at end of         (best in afternoon at 
    road with cottages if           marsh)
    water levels are low)

 2. Ottawa National Wildlife        always good
    Refuge (include only the 
    entrance road if you want 
    to "skip" Ottawa in this tour; otherwise, prepare for the 
    death march: walk straight out (north) as far as you can go; 
    turn left and walk as far as you can go; when the dike road 
    turns to the south, you're finished; head for the parking 
    lot; the round trip walk is four miles--do this walk in the 
    cool of the morning, and bring water) 

 3. Crane Creek State Park          ---
    (marsh and mudflats along
    the road going back to the 
    beach plus the beach)

 4. Turtle Creek Fish &             always good
    Game Area (difficult to 
    look over embankment; no 
    habitat in July-August-September) 

 5. Medusa Marsh                    somewhat better
    (Bay View, a mile or            in morning
    two east of town)

 6. Pipe Creek Wildlife Area        morning
    (Sandusky off 1st St.)

 7. flats off causeway at Old       afternoon
    Cedar Point Chaussee
    (off U.S. 6 to south/east 
    end of Cedar Point Island; unmarked road, 5 1/2 miles east on 
    9th St./U.S. 6 from downtown Sandusky; park on small earthen 
    pulloff near sycamores and before you enter some marsh land; 
    walk north to causeway from there) 

 8. Pickerel Creek Wildlife         noon and after
    Area (straight out from 
    observation tower; take 
    path north, take dike to 
    west and then to north)

 9. Toussaint Wildlife Area         ---
    (access along Hwy 19 and 
    also 3/4 miles west on 
    T-92)

10. Mallard Marsh                   afternoon
    (near Maumee Bay SP)

11. Stop again if desired at Turtle Creek, Crane Creek SP, 
    Ottawa NWR, and Maumee Bay SP.

------------------------------------------------------------

    Bruce M. Bowman