Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife • Vol. 41, No. 4, Summer 2018 A hard-to-find nesting species in Ohio, this Bell’s Vireo was captured by Alex Eberts as he hiked at Darby Creek on 02 Jun. On the cover: While doing some morning exploring near the pond in New Russia Township Park, Lorain, Kathy Caldwell photographed this extremely rare Roseate Spoonbill on 10 Jun. Vol. 41 No. 4 Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife EDITOR OHIO BIRD RECORDS Craig Caldwell COMMITTEE 1270 W. Melrose Dr. Westlake, OH 44145 Jay G. Lehman 440-356-0494 Secretary [email protected] 7064 Shawnee Run Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45243 [email protected] PHOTO EDITOR Christopher Collins PAST PUBLISHERS 3560 Alvera Ct. Beavercreek, OH 45432 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 Kent Miller Bill Whan Brian Wulker And the 27 eBird county reviewers ISSN 1534-1666 The Ohio Cardinal, Summer 2018 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell Common Ravens are here to stay: They were seen in seven counties. Fish Crows might also be I said it for spring, and it still holds true: Ab- here to stay. However, it is still a review species, so normal weather is the new normal. Following please, please, file formal reports! Red Crossbills May’s record highs, Jun’s overall mean tempera- and Pine Siskins previewed the northern finch ture was still well above average, coming in at invasion predicted for this winter. Though pas- number 107 with number 124 being the hottest. serine migrations in general followed their usual It was driven by the average of the high tempera- timing, a couple of warblers were here out of tures, which were the fourth highest on record. season. (The average of the minimums was about at the This issue of the Cardinal contains reports of midpoint of the scale.). Jul’s average minimum, 243 species, almost exactly the average number average maximum, and overall average were a bit of the previous several years. The species ac- above their long-term means. counts also include a hybrid and three reports at Jun rain was above average, ranking at num- the genus level. In addition, this issue also con- ber 106 of the 124. But its distribution was, lit- tinues the streak of data from every county. Ten erally, all over the map. Some areas received as species were reported in all 88 counties and seven little as half their normal amount while other were seen in 87. Twenty-eight more species were pockets were drenched with triple their norm. seen in at least 80. In contrast, Jul was exceptionally dry; it ranked Nine review species were reported; their at number 28 with number 1 being the driest. names are underlined. Sightings of four of them Though the Ohio River valley, the Columbus generated formal reports to the OBRC. Reports area, and the far northeastern Lake Erie shore of the other five species were only posted to eBird got up to double their normal amounts, in most or other media; fortunately most include photos of the state rainfall was below average. The far or descriptions which will allow review. Two of northwest and scattered pockets elsewhere got the species with formal submissions also had less than a quarter of their usual amounts. posted reports from other locations. Weather data are from the National Weather The OBRC and this editor continue to urge Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the birders to formally report all sightings of Review NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- List species, of Core List species found at unusual precip/maps.php and http://www.ncdc.noaa. times, of nesting by birds previously not known gov/extremes/records/), and the Plain Dealer. to nest in the state, and of course sightings of Cardinal contributor Dr. Bernard (Bernie) birds never before found in Ohio. An easy-to-use Master of Worthington, Franklin, has reached on-line form is available at http://ohiobirds.org/ a milestone passed by perhaps fewer than 50 oth- rare-birds/report-a-rare-bird-sighting/. er birders: He saw his 8000th species. “It was a The Trumpeter Swan header is also under- rather plain bulbul—Styan’s Bulbul—handsome lined though it is not among the nine review spe- in its own right, a vulnerable species globally, but cies noted above. Those we see here are either common locally.” He photographed the bird in introduced birds (to Ohio or a state to our north) Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge NP on 09 Apr. In addi- or their descendants. No indisputably wild ones tion, Bernie had seen the monotypic Przevalski’s have been documented. The OBRC is evaluating Pinktail in 2014 which gave him at least one records to decide if they are established (in the member of every avian family, and he’s kept up formal sense of having a self-sustaining popula- with the family splits since then. Well done! tion) which would enable them to be removed This past winter’s Snow Owl invasion, though from the review list and be ABA-rules countable. not record-breaking then, resulted in Ohio’s first Data for the following Species Accounts come Jun sightings. At least one and possibly two in- from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal dividuals lingered. Several ducks made unusual and The Bobolink (the latter courtesy of its pub- summer appearances. Shorebird migration fol- lisher, Robert Hershberger), eBird (http://ebird. lowed its usual pattern, including some sightings org/content/ebird), and the Ohio-birds listserv for which the direction of travel is a guess. Black- (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH). In the necked Stilts nested in at least two locations. species accounts, “normal” departure and arrival Summer Merlin sightings, virtually unknown a dates are from Harlan et al., Ohio Bird Records Com- decade ago, continue to increase. mittee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio, 2008. 157 Vol. 41 No. 4 Mentions of breeding locations are from Rode- CCE = Crane Creek Estuary, Lucas and Otta- wald et al., The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio wa, viewable from both ONWR and the CCE (“OBBA II”, 2016). Trail which originates at Magee Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow Chapel Drive = a road off Ohio 83 south of Cum- the Check-List of North American Birds, 7th Edition berland in Noble which traverses grasslands (1998) as updated through the 59th Supplement Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- (2018). 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 Tole- neaut Harbor, Ashtabula do (Lucas) are also omitted. Shortened names CP = County Park and a few sets of initials are used for locations CPNWR = Cedar Point National Wildlife Ref- and organizations which occur repeatedly; these uge, Lucas abbreviations are listed here. The term “fide” is CVNP = Cuyahoga Valley National Park, used in some citations; it means “in trust of ” and Cuyahoga and (mostly) Summit is used 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 Abbreviations: Deer Creek = the State Park is in Pickaway, the Wildlife Area is in Fayette, and Deer Creek Alum Creek = Alum Creek Reservoir, Dela- Lake is in both but mostly Pickaway ware, unless otherwise noted East Fork = East Fork State Park, Clermont Armleder Park = a Cincinnati city park on the East Harbor = East Harbor State Park, Ottawa Little Miami River, Hamilton Edge Preserve = The Nature Conservancy’s Audubon = the National Audubon Society Edge of Appalachia Preserve, multiple par- (http://www.audubon.org) 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 BBS = the North American Breeding Bird Sur- Lakefront Metroparks, Cuyahoga vey, a joint project of the United States Geo- Englewood = Englewood MetroPark, logical Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Montgomery Wildlife Service Fernald = Fernald Preserve, Butler and Berlin Lake = Berlin Lake (or Reservoir), Ma- Hamilton honing and Portage Findlay Reservoirs = several contiguous water Big Island = Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion bodies east of town in Hancock Blendon Woods = Blendon Woods Metro Park, Funk = Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Ashland Franklin and (mostly) Wayne The Bowl = a limited-access area near the Har- Grand Lake = Grand Lake St. Marys. The State rison airport Park, the state fish hatchery, and the eastern BRAS = Black River Audubon Society 20% of the lake itself are in Auglaize.