Our crazy weather recently has spurred an interest in its effect on
birds. One Ohio ornithologist who took a special interest in weather
was Edwin Moseley. Moseley studied patterns discernible in growth rings
of trees, Ohio river floods, sunspots, etc., and was bold enough to
predict weather events into the 1970s, long past his own death in 1948.
Many of his predictions have been confirmed. Two years ago Ronald L.
Stuckey, a botanist and emeritus professor at OSU, published "Predicting
Droughts and Floods: Edwin L. Moseley's Essays on Long-range Weather
Forecasts," in which describes this work, and uses Moseley's methods to
predict weather further into the future. He forecasts, for example, more
precipitation than normal starting this year through 2013, then less
than normal into 2031.
        There is a very readable and informative essay by Moseley in The Auk
(available on-line by searching "Edwin Moseley" and "1947" at
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/search.php  . In it he discusses changes in
the bird life of northwestern Ohio (he lived in Sandusky and Bowling
Green) that appeared to have been influenced by climate changes, and
also to human practices.
        By the way, if you haven't visited the SORA site recently there are
nifty new additions. You can now search and read all articles in eight
ornithological journals (newly including Western Birds), as well as the
AOU's "Ornithological Monographs." In the latter, you can read Mengel's
598-page "The Birds of Kentucky," for example.  We owe a great debt to
everyone who has made these resources available, especially the
librarians at the University of New Mexico.
Bill Whan
Columbus


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