Hi all,
I made the trip down to Grandview (in Columbus) at lunch today, and
scored big time with the Western Tanager, around 11:30 am. There were
several other observers, but less than I would have expected for such a
great rarity. Jen Sauter was kind enough to come by and pick me up, and
when we got there the bird was present and easily observed. It seems
fixated on the area where Fairview makes the 90 degree turn and becomes
Merrick, as described in other posts. There are many fruiting bush
honeysuckles, privet, and other berry shrubs, and the bird was eating
these. It looks to be a 1st year or perhaps adult female, and is very
dull overall. The undertail coverts are fairly bright yellowish-green,
and this color is faintly suffused on the breast and head. The back is
quite dull gray. The bill is perhaps the brightest part of the bird, and
stands out fairly well. It is fairly bright orange. I also heard the
bird call a number of times; the tone is that of a tanager, but it is a
fairly rapid and less emphatic two or three note sound compared to a
Scarlet Tanager. I got half a dozen or so decent photos.
Probably the best bet if you seek this bird is to just station yourself
right at that sharp bend in the road, and keep your eyes peeled. From
what we saw, it will normally be down low in shrubs, at or below eye
level, but on one occasion it flew high into a tree. Listen for its
distinctive call, too - we found it once this way. It does not seem
particularly shy.
This must be the year of the Western Tanager - there were two confirmed
records this spring; 12 May in Lucas County, and 19 April in Warren
County. There was another report on 7 June in Sandusky County. Prior to
this, I believe Ohio had only two accepted records, although there have
been several other reports that were probably correct.
As an interesting aside, when I was in New Jersey this past weekend, our
crew found a Western Kingbird at Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge.
When we later told some of the locals, they said it was the first of the
season in NJ. They also immediately brought up birder extraordinaire
Paul Lehman, who lives in Cape May, I believe, and has become incredibly
adept at predicting the arrival of vagrant birds by evaluating weather
patterns. They said Paul had essentially predicted a few days prior that
western strays like that kingbird should show up on about the day we
found ours. That timing correlates well with the appearance of this
Western Tanager, too.
Finally, thanks to Rob Thorn for finding this bird. If you get to see
it, you'll be amazed that he found it at all. Most people would have
completely overlooked it, I'm sure.
Jim McCormac
Columbus, Ohio
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