Devoted to the Study and Appreciation of Ohio’s Birdlife • Vol. 43, No. 3, Spring 2020 An exciting find for Gautam Apte, this fledgling Eastern Screech-Owl posed at Shaker Lakes,Cuyahoga , on 08 May. On the cover: The first state record Hooded Oriole was the highlight of spring migration for Bruce Miller, who masterfully photographed it at a private residence in Columbus on 02 April. Vol. 43 No. 3 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 Jamie Cunningham PAST PUBLISHERS [email protected] John Herman (1978–1980) Edwin C. Pierce (1980–2008) LAYOUT Roger Lau PAST EDITORS [email protected] John Herman (1978–1980) Edwin C. Pierce (1980–1991) Thomas Kemp (1987–1991) CONSULTANTS Robert Harlan (1991–1996) Ron Canterbury Victor W. Fazio III (1996–1997) Tim Colborn Bill Whan (1997–2008) Bob Dudley Andy Jones (2008–2010) Stefan Gleissberg Jill M. Russell (2010–2012) Rob Harlan Andy Jones Kent Miller Brian Wulker And the 27 eBird county reviewers ISSN 1534-1666 The Ohio Cardinal, Spring 2020 COMMENTS ON THE SEASON By Craig Caldwell al, with some places getting as little as 75% of their usual rainfall, most of the southern half got This issue reaches you with the hope that you between 125 and 200% of the norm with Cin- and your loved ones are healthy and that the cinnati’s 15 inches being triple the usual amount. COVID-19 pandemic affected only your access Lake Erie continued to be over-filled. Its level to your favorite birding events and spots. The in both Mar and Apr set new records for those Biggest Week in American Birding was cancelled months; May’s level, though not a record, was as were the annual OOS bash at Shawnee and still far above normal. many more local get-togethers. Magee closed Weather data are from the National Weather on the evening of 23 Mar and didn’t reopen Service (http://water.weather.gov/precip/), the until late Jul. Many park systems closed their NOAA (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and- nature centers and rest rooms; fortunately por- precip/maps.php, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. tables were usually provided, if not always well There’s not much to summarize beyond the maintained. new norm: Individuals of many migrants got But the birds didn’t care, birders still went to here earlier than their historical arrival dates, and open venues to see them, and yard birds received for many of them sightings were continuous from more attention than usual. Observers filed 1.7 the early date. million eBird entries, a surprise increase over This issue of the Cardinal contains reports of last spring’s 1.6 million. But primarily because of 315 species. That’s the highest ever for the spring Magee’s closure, Lucas provided only 6% of the season, a slight increase over the previous record entries instead of the usual quarter of them. For- of 313 set in 2014 and tied in 2018. Fourteen ty-six species were reported in either 87 counties hybrids were reported. Not surprisingly, eight of or in all 88, a slight increase from last spring’s 44. them were ducks, a family famous for interbreed- The temperatures in Mar continued the pre- ing. Seven entries below the species level and vious three months’ heat wave, with the overall four unusual (for Ohio) color morphs are also average being the 11th highest of the 126 years included. Twenty-three species were reported in with data. The average minimum and maximum all 88 counties and another 23 were seen in 87. had similar rankings. Apr and May temperatures Forty-one more were seen in at least 80 counties. reversed the trend: Both were in the lower third Underbirded Van Wert was the missing county of the rankings. for three quarters of the “87s”; only 52 species As well as being hot, Mar was very wet, com- over all were reported there. ing in at number 112 of the 126. A wide swath A whopping 32 review species were reported across the middle of the state from the southwest during this season; their names are underlined. to the northeast received five to eight inches of Eleven of them were formally reported to the rain with Carroll and the Columbus area ap- OBRC. Six of those species also had sightings proaching 10 inches, which is four times their elsewhere that were only posted to eBird or oth- average. A few pockets in the southeast received er on-line venues, and 22 species’ sightings were only about 90% of their normal rainfall, but the only posted that way. At least some reports of the rest of the state, especially the northwest, got up majority of the posted species included photos to double its long-term average. or descriptions which will allow review, but two Apr was drier, with rainfall overall being right species’ reports have no supporting information. at the average. It was not evenly distributed, (These numbers don’t include Trumpeter Swans, however. Most of the southeastern quadrant had whose establishment or not is under study. Nor close to double its usual amount of rain with a are the two exotic species, Chukar and European few pockets getting up to triple the norm. From Goldfinch, among the 32.) there to the northwest was a decreasing gradient The OBRC and this editor continue to urge with some areas near Toledo receiving only 25% birders to formally report all sightings of Review of their usual rainfall. Ironically, though, two to List species, of Core List species found at unusual four inches of snow fell on Cleveland and to its times, of nesting by birds previously not known east during the night of 15 to 16 Apr. to nest in the state, and of course sightings of May went back to very wet, ranking at number birds never before found in Ohio. An easy-to-use 101 with number 126 being the wettest. Though on-line form is available at http://ohiobirds.org/ the northern half of the state was dryer than usu- rare-birds/report-a-rare-bird-sighting/. 109 Vol. 43 No. 3 Data for the following Species Accounts come BSBO = Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Otta- from reports submitted directly to The Cardinal wa (http://www.bsbo.org) and The Bobolink (the latter courtesy of its pub- Buck Creek = Buck Creek State Park, Clark lisher, Robert Hershberger), eBird (http://ebird. Burke Airport = Cleveland Burke Lakefront Air- org/content/ebird), and the Ohio-birds listserv port, Cuyahoga (http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH). In the Caesar Creek = Caesar Creek State Park, War- species accounts, “normal” departure and arrival ren, unless the lake itself is specified; a bit of dates are from Harlan et al., Ohio Bird Records Com- the lake is also in Clinton mittee Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio, 2008. CBC = Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Taxonomic order and nomenclature follow CCE = Crane Creek Estuary, Lucas and Otta- the Check-List of North American Birds, 7th Edition wa, viewable from both ONWR and the CCE (1998) as updated through the 60th Supplement Trail which originates at Magee (2019). These documents are produced by the Clear Creek = Clear Creek Metro Park; the east- North American Classification Committee of the ern 2/3 is in Hocking, the rest in Fairfield American Ornithological Society and are avail- Clear Fork = Clear Fork Reservoir (or Lake), able at http://www.checklist.aou.org/. partly in Morrow but most of the birding is County names are in bold italics. Locations done in the larger Richland section whose counties are of the same name, for ex- CLNP = Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve ample Ashtabula (city) and Delaware Wildlife (the former Dike 14), Cuyahoga 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 Toledo Conneaut = the mudflats to the west of Con- (Lucas) are also omitted. Shortened names and a neaut Harbor, Ashtabula few sets of initials are used for locations and or- CP = County Park ganizations which occur repeatedly; these abbre- CPNWR = Cedar Point National Wildlife Ref- viations are listed here. The term “fide” is used in uge, Lucas some citations; it means “in trust of ” and is used CVNP = Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 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 in Abbreviations: other counties as well. The Wet Prairie, Teal, and Harrier trails are the most often cited. Alum Creek = Alum Creek Reservoir, Dela- Deer Creek = the State Park is in Pickaway, the ware, unless otherwise noted Wildlife Area is in Fayette, and Deer Creek Armleder Park = a Cincinnati city park on the Lake is in both but mostly Pickaway Little Miami River, Hamilton EcOhio = EcOhio Farm and Wetland, Warren Audubon = the National Audubon Society East Fork = East Fork State Park, Clermont (http://www.audubon.org) East Harbor = East Harbor State Park, Ottawa Aullwood = Aullwood Audubon Farm and Sanc- Edge Preserve = The Nature Conservancy’s tuary, Montgomery 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.