The Ohio Bird Records Committee has approved four changes tothe official Ohio Checklist. Far and away the most exciting is that Arctic Loonis added to the review-list. The report of the alternate-plumaged Arctic Loon seenat Dillon Lake State Park on October 23-24, 2014 was accepted by the committeewith a vote of 9-0. We thank Anthony Fry, Brad and Diane Perkins, and KatieWest for ably documenting the bird and submitting it for review. The committeegreatly benefited from opinions of four outsider reviewers: Jon Dunn, PaulLehman, Peter Pyle and Thede Tobish. This is a first state-record and the firstaccepted record east of Colorado.
In more mundane matters, three species are removed from thereview list. Black-necked Stilt, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and Common Raven haveall averaged at least two accepted records per year for the last ten years, themetric that separates the core- from the review-list. It is no longer necessaryto submit documentation for these species. The committee thanks the numerousobservers who took the time to document their sightings; thereby allowing thecommittee to assess the changing status of these species. 

I will post an account of the actions of the OBRC over the last year at the Ohio Ornithological Society's website hopefully soon. I will post a pointer here when that is available. Quarterly reports of the committee are available in The Ohio Cardinal.
Happy birding,Paul
 Paul Gardner
Secretary, OBRC
Columbus, OH

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