Kim and I had been out of town (Autumn Weekend at Cape May) and I should
have been catching up on work, but a glance at the weather patterns of the
last few days prompted me to go out and see if any odd birds were around
today (Tuesday October 31).  None of the birds that I saw would be
considered rarities for Ohio, but three were very unusual for the end of
October.  In the small woodlot at the end of the road at Metzger Marsh,
Lucas Co., I saw one each of Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and
Yellow Warbler.

My source for expected dates here is Birds of the Toledo Area by Matt
Anderson et al. (2002), backed up by info from The Birds of Ohio by Bruce
Peterjohn (1989) and Birds of the Cleveland Region by Larry Rosche (2004).
Yellow-billed Cuckoos are essentially gone from the area by the middle of
October, although there is a mid-November record for Toledo (and other
November records for Cleveland and elsewhere in the state).  The latest
dates listed for Eastern Wood-Pewee are October 14 for the Toledo area and
October 26 for the Cleveland area (Peterjohn's latest date listed for the
state is October 21).  Considering the lateness of this bird, I studied it
carefully for the possibility of Western Wood-Pewee, but it looked typical
for an Eastern in all respects.  Yellow Warbler is a very early fall
migrant, with most leaving northwestern Ohio before mid-September.  The late
date listed for the Toledo area is November 1, although there are later
records elsewhere in the state, but any individual in October has to be
considered late.  Remarkably, Brian Zwiebel had seen and photographed a
Yellow Warbler at Maumee Bay State Park, just a few miles west of Metzger,
Oct. 26-30.  Looking at his photos, I think my bird was probably a different
individual.

This concentration of late dates raises the question: are these just
lingerers that haven't made their way south yet, or could they be birds that
came up from farther south on the recent strong southwesterly winds?  The
latter kind of phenomenon is believed to occur at some heavily birded spots
on the Atlantic Coast, where strong south winds in fall are often followed
by records of such "late" birds.  In this case it can't be proven, but I
didn't see any of these birds on multiple visits to Metzger in mid-October,
so it's possible that they came north in recent days.

Aside from these three, there were very few migrants in the woods at
Metzger.  The most interesting were a Blue-headed Vireo (also rather late,
but not strikingly so) and an Eastern Towhee.  A handful of birds seen in a
scan of Lake Erie from the end of the road included at least 20 Forster's
Terns, 2 Common Terns, one Caspian Tern (getting late), 2 Common Goldeneyes,
14 Lesser Scaup, and 30 Ring-necked Ducks.  All of these birds were some
distance offshore.

Construction has Route 2 partially blocked near the turnoff to Metzger.  The
westbound lane is closed, but the turnoff is still accessible if you're
eastbound on 2.

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

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