Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio's Birdlife • Vol. 44, No. 1, Fall 2020
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Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife • Vol. 44, No. 1, Fall 2020 Debbie Parker enjoyed great looks at a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on 16 Sept at Magee. On the cover: A very cooperative first state record Brown Booby was photographed by Josh Vardous on 26 Aug at Nimisila Reservoir. The bird was enjoyed by many birders across the state over the course of several weeks. Vol. 44 No. 1 Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife EDITOR OHIO BIRD RECORDS Craig Caldwell COMMITTEE 1270 W. Melrose Dr. Westlake, OH 44145 Rob Harlan 440-356-0494 Vice-Secretary [email protected] [email protected] PHOTO EDITOR PAST PUBLISHERS Jamie Cunningham John Herman (1978–1980) [email protected] Edwin C. Pierce (1980–2008) LAYOUT PAST EDITORS Roger Lau John Herman (1978–1980) [email protected] Edwin C. Pierce (1980–1991) Thomas Kemp (1987–1991) Robert Harlan (1991–1996) Victor W. Fazio III (1996–1997) CONSULTANTS Bill Whan (1997–2008) Tim Colborn Andy Jones (2008–2010 Stephan Gleissberg Jill M. Russell (2010–2012) Rob Harlan Andy Jones Holly Latterman Kent Miller Su Snyder Brian Wulker And the 25+ eBird county reviewers ISSN 1534-1666 The Ohio Cardinal, Fall 2020 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell system entered the state from the west. With the dryness came heat: Nov was the eighth hottest As this issue was in preparation, we received on record. Locally for me, stations in Akron and word of Bill Whan’s death. Bill passed on 14 Jan, Cleveland set several daily high records. closing the book on one of Ohio’s, and especially Weather data are from the National Weather Franklin’s, most passionate birders. Bill was a Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the founding member of the OOS, though regret- NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- tably that relationship later soured. He was the precip/maps.php, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cardinal’s editor for a record 40 issues between The season produced two state firsts, a Brown 1997 and 2008 and remained a contributor to Booby in Aug-Sep and a Black-chinned Hum- this journal until his health declined. His research mingbird in Nov. There is no doubt about their into Ohio’s ornithological history produced identities, thanks to numberless photos of the much that would otherwise not be available to a booby and Allen Chartier’s banding of the hum- wide audience. I will miss him. R.I.P. mingbird. We eagerly await formal confirmation by the OBRC to add them to the official list. The weather keeps getting weirder. Aug rain- The hot Nov probably contributed to the very fall showed no pattern: It was dry (less than two high number of migrants who lingered past their inches) near Toledo and at a few other scattered usual departure dates. Small songbirds were es- sites, and very wet (up to 10 inches) in other pock- pecially well represented, and several warblers in ets. Overall, the month was a little wetter than addition to the usual Yellow-rumped stayed long average, ranking at number 78 with 126 being enough to appear on Christmas Counts. More the wettest. The average temperature ranked at shorebirds than usual dragged out their migra- number 92, with number 126 being the hottest. tions as well. But most remarkable were the two Similarly, in Sep the Butler/Preble area Ruby-throated Hummingbirds which stayed past had less than an inch of rain while a band from mid-Dec. Mercer to Richland and on to Cleveland and COVID-19 surely impacted many of you, Youngstown got up to 10 inches. The overall either the disease itself or its disruption of your rank was number 67. The average temperature job and regular social activities. But birders got was right in the middle of the historical range, into the field and did a lot of feeder-watching. We coming in at number 61. produced 987,000 eBird entries for the season, In Oct the far northwest and the southeastern a 62% increase over fall 2019’s 611,000 reports. third of the state were rather dry; those areas This issue of the Cardinal contains reports of got between 75 and 90% of their usual amount 321 species. Not only was that number the most of rain. But a wide band from Mercer to the in any fall season; it’s also the highest count for northeast and a disjunct area north of Cincin- any season ever. The previous record count of nati received double to triple the norm. The 317 species came from all the way back in fall overall average came in at number 109, mean- 2012. Five hybrid entities are reported, and 13 ing that the month was wetter than four-fifths entries at the genus or family level are also listed. of all Octs. The average maximum temperature Twenty-two species were reported in all 88 coun- was quite low compared to other years and the ties and seven more were seen in 87. Thirty were average minimum was quite high. That fairly seen in between 80 and 86 counties. narrow range gave us an overall average only a Twenty-nine review species were reported little above the long-term norm with a rank of during this season; their names are underlined. number 74. Thirteen of the species generated at least one But then came Nov, whose overall precipita- report to the OBRC, and many of the posts tion rank was only number 52. Only the Cincin- have enough documentation to allow review. (As nati-Dayton and Akron-Cleveland areas were always, these numbers don’t include Trumpet- wetter than average, getting as much as 150% of er Swans, whose establishment or not is under normal. Fairly large areas southwest of Toledo study.) and east of Columbus got as little as 25% of their Data for the following Species Accounts come usual rain. Most of the rest of the state got 75 from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal to 90% of the usual amount. The only signifi- and The Bobolink (the latter courtesy of its pub- cant snow came on 30 Nov when a major storm lisher, Robert Hershberger), eBird (http://ebird. 1 Vol. 44 No. 1 org/content/ebird), and the Ohio-birds listserv Caesar Creek = Caesar Creek State Park, War- (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH). In the ren, unless the lake itself is specified; a bit of species accounts, “normal” departure and arrival the lake is also in Clinton dates are from Harlan et al., Ohio Bird Records Com- CBC = Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count mittee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio, 2008. CCE = Crane Creek Estuary, Lucas and Otta- Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow wa, viewable from both ONWR and the CCE the Check-List of North American Birds, 7th Edition Trail that originates at Magee (1998) as updated through the 60th Supplement Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- (2019). These documents are produced by the ern 2/3 is in Hocking, the rest in Fairfield North American Classification Committee of the Clear Fork = Clear Fork Reservoir (or Lake), American Ornithological Society and are avail- partly in Morrow but most of the birding is able at http://www.checklist.aou.org/. done in the larger Richland section County names are in bold italics. Locations CLNP = Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve whose counties are of the same name, for ex- (the former Dike 14), Cuyahoga ample Ashtabula (city) and Delaware Wildlife CNC = Cincinnati Nature Center, a non-govern- Area, usually do not have the counties repeated. mental entity whose Long Branch Farm and County names for sites described in Cincinnati Rowe Woods units are in Clermont (Hamilton), Cleveland (Cuyahoga), Columbus Conneaut = the mudflats to the west of Con- (Franklin), Dayton (Montgomery), and Toledo neaut Harbor, Ashtabula (Lucas) are also omitted. Shortened names and CP = County Park a few sets of initials are used for locations and CPNWR = Cedar Point National Wildlife Ref- organizations that occur repeatedly; these abbre- uge, Lucas viations are listed here. The term “fide” is used in CVNP = Cuyahoga Valley National Park, some citations; it means “in trust of ” and is used Cuyahoga and (mostly) Summit where the reporter was not the observer. Darby Creek = Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, almost entirely in Franklin but with bits in other counties as well. The Wet Prairie, Teal, Abbreviations: and Harrier trails are the most often cited. Deer Creek = the State Park is in Pickaway, the Alum Creek = Alum Creek Reservoir, Dela- Wildlife Area is in Fayette, and Deer Creek ware, unless otherwise noted Lake is in both but mostly Pickaway Armleder Park = a Cincinnati city park on the EcOhio = EcOhio Farm and Wetland, Warren Little Miami River, Hamilton East Fork = East Fork State Park, Clermont Audubon = the National Audubon Society East Harbor = East Harbor State Park, Ottawa (http://www.audubon.org) Edge Preserve = The Nature Conservancy’s Aullwood = Aullwood Audubon Farm and Sanc- Edge of Appalachia Preserve, multiple par- tuary, Montgomery cels mostly in Adams and extending a bit into Bayshore = a fishing access site near a power Scioto. plant a bit east of Toledo Edgewater = the Edgewater unit of Cleveland Barrow FS = James H. Barrow Field Station, Lakefront Metroparks, Cuyahoga Portage Englewood = Englewood MetroPark, BBS = the North American Breeding Bird Sur- Mont gomery vey, a joint project of the United States Geo- Fernald = Fernald Preserve, Butler and logical Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Hamilton Wildlife Service Findlay Reservoirs = several contiguous water Berlin Lake = Berlin Lake (or Reservoir), Ma- bodies east of town in Hancock honing and Portage Funk = Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Ashland Big Island = Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion and (mostly) Wayne Blendon Woods = Blendon Woods Metro Park, Gilmore = Gilmore MP, Butler Franklin Grand Lake = Grand Lake St.