Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio's Birdlife • Vol. 40, No. 2
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Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife • Vol. 40, No. 2, Winter 2016–17 Possibly the bird of the year, this Anna’s Hummingbird—a second state record—was photographed at a feeder in Miami by Leslie Sours on 03 Jan. Leslie was instrumental in creating the opportunity for many other Ohio birders to see this bird. On the cover: Alex Eberts photographed this sleepy Northern Saw-whet Owl in the parking lot of the Migratory Bird Center at Magee on 19 Feb. It provided great looks for many Ohio birders. Vol. 40 No. 2 Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife EDITOR OHIO BIRD RECORDS Craig Caldwell COMMITTEE 1270 W. Melrose Dr. Westlake, OH 44145 Jack Stenger 440-356-0494 Secretary [email protected] 394 Bielby Rd. Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 [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) Jen Brumfield Andy Jones (2008–2010 Cory Chiappone Jill M. Russell (2010–2012) Tim Colborn Victor Fazio III Laura Gooch Rob Harlan Andy Jones Kent Miller Laura Peskin Bob Scott Placier Robert Sams Bill Whan Brian Wulker ISSN 1534-1666 The Ohio Cardinal, Winter 2016 –17 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell for our state lists. Other possible splits of Wil- let and Nashville Warbler wouldn’t change our Fall’s temperatures had been well above nor- Ohio counts but would give new names to the mal and in some cases nearly set records. In con- forms we see here. trast, temperatures in Dec were a little below av- This issue of the Cardinal contains reports of erage, ranking number 58 of the 122 years with 195 species, quite a bit fewer than last winter’s data. Then Jan and Feb temperatures returned to 203 but more than any of the five winters preced- fall’s pattern: Jan’s average was the ninth highest ing that one. The species accounts also include and Feb’s the hottest ever. Their average maxi- four hybrids and four reports at the genus or fam- ma and minima ranked similarly, meaning that ily level. Entries for two exotic probable escapees the overall rankings didn’t come from high spikes are not in that total. This issue again includes but that those months’ whole temperature ranges data from every county, though birders reported were elevated. Fall’s seesaw precipitation pattern only six species from Putnam. Only Red-tailed continued. While Nov had been very dry, Dec Hawks were reported in all 88 counties. Six spe- was somewhat wetter than usual, Jan precipita- cies were seen in all but one county and 17 more tion was at the 85th percentile, and Feb’s was a species were seen in at least 80. little below average. The Ohio Bird Records Committee (OBRC) Weather data are from the National Weather received formal reports of five review species and Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the gleaned reports of four others which had varying NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- amounts of information. precip/maps.php and http://www.ncdc.noaa. As always, the OBRC and this editor urge gov/extremes/records/), and the Plain Dealer. birders to formally report all sightings of Review This winter hosted the 117th Audubon Christ- List species, of Core List species found at unusual mas Bird Count (CBC). Mike Busam’s article times, of nesting by birds previously not known and the table of CBC results follow the saw-whet to nest in the state, and of course sightings of owl articles. In the species accounts which follow birds never before found in Ohio. An easy-to-use this “Comments” section I note the highest num- on-line form is available at http://www.ohio- ber of a species found. Most of these values are birds.org/records/documentation.php. those of single birders or parties, usually birding Data for the following Species Accounts come in a relatively small area, and often are the counts from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal from a single route within a CBC. However, I and The Bobolink, the latter courtesy of its pub- seldom include counts from an entire CBC, each lisher, Robert Hershberger; eBird (http://ebird. of which is the result of many parties’ efforts in org/content/ebird); and the Ohio-birds listserv scattered locales within a 15-mile diameter circle; (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH). In the those data are in the table. species accounts, “normal” arrival dates are from Come summer we’ll be treated to another Harlan et al., Ohio Bird Records Committee Annotated round of taxonomic revisions when the North Checklist of the Birds of Ohio, 2008. Mentions of American Classification Committee (NACC) breeding locations are from Rodewald et al., The of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio (“OBBA II”, publishes its annual update. Proposals include 2016). significant changes to the sequence of families Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow within the order Passeriformes and movement the Check-List of North American Birds, 7th Edition of species within several of those families. Of (1998) as updated through the 57th Supplement more immediate concern to us listers, I hear (2016). These documents are published by the through the grapevine that a proposal to lump North American Classification Committee of the Iceland and Thayer’s gulls has been accepted. AOS and are available at http://www.checklist. In addition, last year’s proposal to lump Hoary aou.org/. and Common redpolls has been resubmitted with County names are in bold italics. Locations more supporting data; I suspect it also will pass. whose counties are of the same name, for ex- But all is not lost; the NACC might also split Yel- ample Ashtabula (city) and Delaware Wildlife low-rumped Warbler into Myrtle and Audubon’s, Area, usually do not have the counties repeated. so those of us fortunate enough to have seen the County names for sites described in Cincinnati western form in Ohio will gain back one number (Hamilton), Cleveland (Cuyahoga), Columbus 49 Vol. 40 No. 2 (Franklin), Dayton (Montgomery), and Tole- Conneaut = the mudflats to the west of Con- do (Lucas) are also omitted. Shortened names neaut Harbor, Ashtabula and a few sets of initials are used for locations CP = County Park and organizations which occur repeatedly; these CPNWR = Cedar Point National Wildlife Ref- abbreviations are listed here. The term “fide” is uge, Lucas used in some citations; it means “in trust of ” and CVNP = Cuyahoga Valley National Park, is used where the reporter was not the observer. Cuyahoga and (mostly) Summit Darby Creek = Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, almost entirely in Franklin but with bits Abbreviations: in other counties as well 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 East Fork = East Fork State Park, Clermont Little Miami River, Hamilton East Harbor = East Harbor State Park, Ottawa Audubon = the National Audubon Society Edge Preserve = The Nature Conservancy’s (http://www.audubon.org) Edge of Appalachia Preserve, multiple par- Bayshore = a fishing access site near a power cels mostly in Adams and extending a bit into plant a bit east of Toledo Scioto. BBS = the North American Breeding Bird Sur- Edgewater = the Edgewater unit of Cleveland vey, a joint project of the United States Geo- Lakefront Metroparks, Cuyahoga logical Survey (USGS) and the Canadian Englewood = Englewood MetroPark, Wildlife Service Montgomery Berlin Lake = Berlin Lake (or Reservoir), Ma- Fernald = Fernald Preserve, Butler and honing and Portage Hamilton Big Island = Big Island Wildlife Area, Marion Findlay Reservoirs = several contiguous water Blendon Woods = Blendon Woods Metro Park, bodies east of town in Hancock Franklin Funk = Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, Ashland The Bowl = a limited-access area near the Har- and (mostly) Wayne rison airport Grand Lake = Grand Lake St. Marys. The State BRAS = Black River Audubon Society Park, the state fish hatchery, and the eastern BSBO = Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Otta- 20% of the lake itself are in Auglaize. The wa (http://www.bsbo.org) rest of the lake is in Mercer. Buck Creek = Buck Creek State Park, Clark Great Miami WMB = Great Miami Wetlands Burke Airport = Cleveland Burke Lakefront Air- Mitigation Bank, Montgomery port, Cuyahoga Headlands = Headlands Dunes State Nature Caesar Creek = Caesar Creek State Park, War- Preserve, Headlands Beach State Park, and ren, unless the lake is specified; a bit of the adjoining waters, Lake lake is also in Clinton Holden = Holden Arboretum, Lake, except for CBC = Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count its Stebbins Gulch unit in Geauga CCE = Crane Creek Estuary, Lucas and Otta- Hoover NP = Hoover Nature Preserve, wa, viewable from both ONWR and the CCE Delaware Trail which originates at Magee Hoover Reservoir = the northern 80% is in Del- Chapel Drive = a road off Ohio 83 south of Cum- aware, the rest and the dam in Franklin berland in Noble which traverses grasslands Huron = the harbor, breakwalls, and old dredge Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- spoil impoundment in that Erie city, unless ern 2/3 is in Hocking, the rest in Fairfield noted otherwise Clear Fork = Clear Fork Reservoir (or Lake), Indian Lake = Indian Lake State Park, Logan partly in Morrow but most of the birding is Jones Preserve = Jones Preserve at Long Point, on done in the larger Richland Section.