Bill brought up the subject of the spring arrival of Blue Grosbeaks and I thought I would add my two cents about Blue Grosbeaks in the Greater Cincinnati region. While our Blue Grosbeak data for the Greater Cincinnati area (which also includes parts of southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky) does show a few late April records (April 24th twice, April 26th once) and a few more scattered arrivals during the first week of May, they are not expected or show up with any regularity until the second week of May. Even then the bulk of our records begin around the middle of May and continue on into summer. Most of these records are of breeding, or probable breeding, birds returning to their territories. Many of our early records are from areas where Blue Grosbeaks are not known to summer/nest and obviously represent migrants. 

 

On another note and curiously, abandoned (and some active) gravel pits seem to be a preferred nesting area for Blue Grosbeaks in our area. At least 10 gravel pits in our immediate area have hosted summering or confirmed breeding Blue Grosbeaks over the past decade. In this part of the state gravel pits are extremely common. Since the majority of these gravel pits are privately owned and posted, and not too many birders make them their preferred birding destinations anyway, I have always suspected that there are many more Blue Grosbeaks present in our area than our records indicate.

Jay Stenger
Cincinnati, Ohio

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