Comments on the Season
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The Ohio Cardinal, Summer 2015 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell ment considering how adversely the woodland birds are hurt by fragmentation from pipelines. Jun was the rainiest on record. We were not alone I would estimate 16–20 pairs found in five differ- in our misery—it was also Illinois’ and Indiana’s ent areas, two of which are newly colonized or I wettest. States from Virginia to New Hampshire overlooked them before.” were within their top five rainiest, and precipita- As usual, a few straggling northbound vireos tion in the country as a whole ranked in the top and warblers were seen in Jun, but read the ac- 10% of the 121 years with data. No Ohio sta- counts of Blue-headed Vireo, Golden-crowned tion recorded less than four inches of rain. Most Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Golden-winged and stations received six to 10 inches, some in the Mourning warblers, and White-throated and west central region 10 to 15, and a few endured White-crowned sparrows for sightings at unusual more than 15 inches. The month’s average tem- times or places. perature was only a little above normal, but the This issue of the Cardinal includes accounts average maximum was lower than usual and the of birds singing the song of another species—see average minimum was well above normal. the accounts of Golden-winged and Blue-winged The rains continued into Jul, though the warblers, Tennessee Warbler, and Dark-eyed month ranked “only” in the wettest quartile. Junco. This is not uncommon, because most of Most of the eastern half of the state received our songbirds learn their vocalizations although two to five inches though pockets were above or even learned song has some genetic foundation. below that range. Most of the western half re- Andy Jones told me that “…many or most birds ceived five to six inches. Brown and Clermont that learn their songs [do so] from the communi- were drenched with 10 to 15 inches as neigh- ty around them, which includes their social father boring Kentucky set a new monthly record. Jul (who may not be their genetic father), but a lot of average temperature was below normal, ranking species do not rely so heavily on just the father only 26th out of the 121. The low average maxi- as their ‘tutor’.” This isn’t mimicry in the classic mum, at number 13, was the major influence; the sense as practiced by mockingbirds, starlings, and average minimum was near normal. Ironically, some corvids. It might even be disadvantageous the global average for the month was the highest to the individual because he’s probably not going ever, according to the National Oceanic and At- to attract a mate while using the “wrong” song. mospheric Administration (NOAA). I’d like to get more reports of other extra-spe- Weather data are from the National Weather cific song, regardless of when you observed it. I’ll Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the prime the pump with an example from my own NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- experience: I once watched an Eastern Towhee precip/maps.php and http://www.ncdc.noaa. sing a very credible imitation of a Northern Car- gov/extremes/records/), and the Plain Dealer. dinal, then switch to its usual song. Of course The heavy rains caused flooding in some ar- some species’ songs are very similar to anoth- eas, both along rivers and in agricultural lands. er’s, such as those of the closely-related Gold- Standing water in “sky ponds” had begun to re- en-winged and Blue-winged warblers. And I’ve cede by the time some shorebirds arrived from had a Dark-eyed Junco come to a Pine Warbler the Arctic, but stopover habitat for them remains recording. scarce. Nevertheless, observers managed to find This issue contains accounts of 243 species, all of the regularly-occurring species, and the about the recent average for summer. Four ad- timing of their last departures and first arrivals ditional accounts are at the family or genus level were as usual. and one hybrid is included. Seven Review Spe- Scott Pendleton has paid special attention to cies, birds whose occurrences (generally speak- grassland birds in his home patch of Harrison. ing) are rare and unpredictable, were reported. He wrote, “An interesting thing, at least to me, Three were formally documented for the Ohio is occurring with the [Upland Sandpipers]. They Bird Records Committee (OBRC). Another have been putting in pipelines and when they do, three were informally documented through post- they fence out the 100' right of way to keep the ings to various internet venues, but one of the cows out. The birds have used these new perch- postings had no photo or other details. The sev- ing posts and the ungrazed high grass to expand enth is included only by way of a second-hand their nesting territories! A remarkable develop- report with no details. 158 Vol. 38 No. 4 The names heading Review Species accounts Abbreviations: are underlined. No observers’ names are men- Alum Creek = Alum Creek Reservoir, Dela- tioned unless the OBRC has voted on the doc- ware, unless otherwise noted umentation, and only accepted records are Armleder Park = a Cincinnati city park on the attributed. The Records Committee and this Little Miami River, Hamilton editor urge birders to formally report all sightings Bayshore = a fishingaccess point by the epony- of Review List species, of Core List species found mous power plant, Lucas at unusual times, of nesting by birds previously BBS = the North American Breeding Bird Sur- not known to nest in the state, and of course vey, a joint project of the United States Geo- sightings of birds never before found in Ohio. logical Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Information on how to document rarities is avail- Wildlife Service able at http://www.ohiobirds.org/records/docu- Berlin Lake = Berlin Lake (or Reservoir), Ma- mentation.php. honing and Portage Three other species’ names are underlined as Big Island = Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion well but not included in the six mentioned above. Blendon Woods = Blendon Woods Metro Park, Sightings of Trumpeter Swan are attributed to Franklin the reporters because the species is apparently The Bowl = a limitedaccess area near the Har- established as a result of introductions by the De- rison airport partment of Natural Resources. It is a Review BRAS = Black River Audubon Society Species in the hope, though not the expectation, BSBO = Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Otta- that a truly wild-origin bird might show up in the wa (http://www.bsbo.org) state. The other two underlined names, Chukar Buck Creek = Buck Creek State Park, Clark and European Goldfinch, belong to birds which Burke Airport = Cleveland Burke Lakefront Air- were surely released or escaped. I include them port, Cuyahoga because they’re fun to find, though they’re not Caesar Creek = Caesar Creek State Park, countable by American Birding Association Warren rules. (As I’ve noted before, ABA counting rules CCE = Crane Creek Estuary, Lucas and Otta- apply only to lists reported to the ABA—birders wa, viewable from both ONWR and the CCE are welcome to include everything they identify Trail which originates at Magee in their personal lists.) Cedar Point = the peninsula which contains the Data for the following Species Accounts come amusement park, Erie from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal Chapel Drive = a road off Ohio 83 south of Cum- and The Bobolink, the latter courtesy of its pub- berland in Noble which traverses grasslands lisher, Robert Hershberger; eBird (http://ebird. Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- org/content/ebird); the Ohio-birds listserv ern 2/3 is in Hocking, the rest in Fairfield (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH); rarebird. Clear Fork = Clear Fork Reservoir (or Lake), org (http://rarebird.org/forum/default.asp); partly in Morrow but most of the birding is and the Cincinnati Bird Sightings Log (http:// done in the larger Richland Section. cincinnatibirds.com/goodbird/sighting.php). CLNP = Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow (the former Dike 14), Cuyahoga the CheckList of North American Birds, 7th Edition CMM = the trio of Jon Cefus, Greg Miller, and (1998) as updated through the 56th Supple- Ben Morrison ment (2015). This document is published by the CNC = Cincinnati Nature Center, a nongovern- North American Classification Committee of the mental entity whose Long Branch Farm and American Ornithologists’ Union and is available Rowe Woods units are in Clermont at http://www.aou.org/checklist/north/print. Conneaut = the mudflats to the west of Con- php. County names are in bold italics. Loca- neaut Harbor, Ashtabula tions whose counties are of the same name, for CP = County Park example Ashtabula (city) and Delaware Wildlife CPNWR = Cedar Point National Wildlife Ref- Area, usually do not have the counties repeated. uge, Lucas County names for sites described in Cincinnati, CVNP = Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton are also omit- Cuyahoga and (mostly) Summit ted. Shortened names and a few sets of initials Darby Creek = Battelle Darby Creek Metro are used for locations and organizations which Park, Franklin occur repeatedly; these abbreviations are listed Deer Creek = the State Park is in Pickaway, the here. The term “fide” is used in some citations; it Wildlife Area is in Fayette, and Deer Creek means “in trust of ” and is used where the report- Lake is in both but mostly Pickaway er was not the observer. 159 The Ohio Cardinal, Summer 2015 East Fork = East Fork State Park, Clermont Medusa = Medusa Marsh, Erie, an informally East Harbor = East Harbor State Park, Ottawa named and privately owned area between Eastlake Power = the Lake Erie viewpoint east of Sandusky and Bay View the First Energy plant in Eastlake, Lake Metzger = Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Lucas Edgewater = the Edgewater unit of Cleveland Mill Creek = Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, a Lakefront Metroparks, Cuyahoga limitedaccess area in Mahoning Fernald = Fernald Preserve, Butler and Mohican = Mohican State Forest and State Park.