Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife • Vol. 40, No. 4, Summer 2017 Many of the visitors looking for the Blue Grosbeak at the SWACO landfll, Franklin, were treated to views of this beautiful leusistic Red-tailed Hawk. Tom Fishburn captured this photo of it on 03 Jul. On the cover: This male Eastern Bluebird was taking turns with its mate gathering as many insects as they could for their squealing nestlings at Siebenthaler Fen, Greene. They ignored Sean Hollowell as he captured this photo on 05 Jul. Sean felt it looked like the bird was sweating from all of the hard work. Vol. 40 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) Rick Asamoto Andy Jones (2008–2010 Jen Brumfeld Jill M. Russell (2010–2012) Cory Chiappone Tim Colborn Victor Fazio III Stephan Gleissberg Rob Harlan Andy Jones Kent Miller Laura Peskin Robert Sams Jack Stenger Sue Tackett Bill Whan Brian Wulker ISSN 1534-1666 The Ohio Cardinal, Summer 2017 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell count since I’ve been editor. The species ac- counts also include two hybrids and three reports June’s temperatures (overall average, average at the genus level. This issue again includes data minimum, and average maximum) were all a from every county; even under-birded Putnam little above their long-term means, each rank- contributed 38 species and Van Wert 21. Five ing about number 70 with number 123 being species (Turkey Vulture, American Robin, Amer- the highest. July’s overall average was similarly ican Goldfnch, Red-winged Blackbird, and placed at number 69. However, the Jul range of Common Grackle) were reported in all 88 coun- temperatures was much smaller: The average ties. Six species were seen in 87 counties and 33 maximum was cooler than usual at number 37, more were seen in at least 80. and the average minimum was warmer at num- Birders found a few unexpected individuals ber 98. this summer in addition to the review species. Rainfall was higher than usual during both A Canvasback, four (!) Redheads, a Common months. June ranked at 90 out of 123. Much Goldeneye, Laughing and Franklin’s gulls, a of the state received fve or more inches with Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Lincoln’s and pockets exceeding 10 inches, numbers which White-crowned sparrows all made appearances. are double to triple the norm. Paradoxically, a Yellow-crowned Night-Herons popped up here band across the far northern counties received and there, though the former nesting trees on as little as two inches. July was a drencher across Preston Road in eastern Columbus have been most of the state, again excepting the northeast. empty for a couple of years now. Merlins have Statewide, the rainfall ranked as the 10th most on apparently decided that they like it here in sum- record. The Columbus area and a band to the mer as well as winter. And as always, a few war- southwest from there were the hardest hit, with blers lingered into Jun; these stragglers probably 10 to 15 inches, up to triple the norm. arrived too late on the nesting grounds to stake Weather data are from the National Weather out territories. Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the Thirteen review species are among the 249 NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- in this issue; their names are underlined. Four precip/maps.php and http://www.ncdc.noaa. species’ sightings generated formal reports to the gov/extremes/records/), and the Plain Dealer. Ohio Bird Records Committee (OBRC) and re- As I warned in the spring Cardinal, this issue ports of another eight were posted to eBird or incorporates the signifcant changes to bird tax- other media with photos which will allow review. onomy announced in July by the North Amer- Two of the four species with formal submissions ican Classifcation Committee of the American also had reports from other locations without Ornithological Society (NACC/AOS). The any supporting information, and the sole report Yellow-breasted Chat is now in its own family, of another was also bereft of documentation. Icteriidae, rather than being the tail-ender of The OBRC and this editor urge birders to for- the warbler (Parulidae) list. (Be careful to include mally report all sightings of Review List species, the double ii to avoid confusion with our black- of Core List species found at unusual times, of birds and orioles, family Icteridae!) New World nesting by birds previously not known to nest in sparrows have been separated from Old World the state, and of course sightings of birds nev- buntings in the new family Passerellidae. Some er before found in Ohio. An easy-to-use on-line waterfowl have new genera, so keep an eye out form is available at http://www.ohiobirds.org/ for fying kitchen utensils—Garganey, Blue- records/documentation.php. winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, and Northern Data for the following Species Accounts come Shoveler are now Spatula species. The sequence from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal of species within the waterfowl, shorebird, fnch, and The Bobolink (the latter courtesy of its pub- and blackbird families has changed, and many lisher, Robert Hershberger), eBird (http://ebird. families have also moved relative to each other. org/content/ebird), and the Ohio-birds listserv And the sparrow and thrasher which honor John (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH). In the Lawrence LeConte now properly spell his name species accounts, “normal” departure and arrival by dropping the space between the e and the C. dates are from Harlan et al., Ohio Bird Records Com- This issue of the Cardinal contains reports of mittee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio, 2008. 249 species, passing 2014’s 247 for the highest Mentions of breeding locations are from Rode- 157 Vol. 40 No. 4 wald et al., The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio Chapel Drive = a road of Ohio 83 south of Cum- (“OBBA II”, 2016). berland in Noble which traverses grasslands Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- the Check-List of North American Birds, 7th Edition ern 2/3 is in Hocking, the rest in Fairfeld (1998) as updated through the 58th Supplement Clear Fork = Clear Fork Reservoir (or Lake), (2017). These documents are published by the partly in Morrow but most of the birding is NACC and are available at http://www.check- done in the larger Richland Section. list.aou.org/. CLNP = Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve County names are in bold italics. Locations (the former Dike 14), Cuyahoga whose counties are of the same name, for ex- CMM = the trio of Jon Cefus, Kent Miller, and ample Ashtabula (city) and Delaware Wildlife Ben Morrison Area, usually do not have the counties repeated. CNC = Cincinnati Nature Center, a non-govern- County names for sites described in Cincinnati mental entity whose Long Branch Farm and (Hamilton), Cleveland (Cuyahoga), Columbus Rowe Woods units are in Clermont (Franklin), Dayton (Montgomery), and Tole- Conneaut = the mudfats 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 “fde” 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 fshing 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 Mont gomery 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 fsh hatchery, and the eastern BSBO = Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Otta- 20% of the lake itself are in Auglaize.