OHIO-BIRDS Archives

June 2007

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From:
Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:08:41 -0400
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By the time you get to June 13th, shorebird "migrants" at this latitude are
starting to be problematic.  Some that are around now may still in fact be
on their way north to the breeding grounds, and they may still attempt to
nest after they arrive there, but others are probably nonbreeders that won't
go much farther north and they may just spend the summer here.  By the
beginning of July, of course, the first southbound migrants will show up --
perhaps birds that failed in their first nesting attempt and didn't have
time (in the brief Arctic summer) to initiate a second.  A lot of ink and
electrons get wasted in attempting to define whether given individual
shorebirds in mid to late June are northbound, southbound, or neither.  But
it's still interesting to see what shorebirds we can find at this time of
year.

Kim and I had been focused on breeding birds for the last few days (in
Guernsey Co., atlasing with the OYBC, and on West Sister Island).  But we
visited Metzger Marsh, Lucas Co., n.w. Ohio, this evening (Wednesday June
13) to check out the flats that had been so good for shorebirds this spring.
We were not disappointed, with nine species seen.  The Killdeers and Spotted
Sandpipers are local breeders, but the other seven species certainly are
not:
Black-bellied Plover  3 (all in "winter-like" plumage, undoubtedly young
nonbreeders)
Ruddy Turnstone  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  2
Western Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper   3
White-rumped Sandpiper  2
Dunlin  14

White-rumped Sandpiper is a classic late migrant so these birds were very
likely still on their way to the Arctic.  The most notable bird this evening
was undoubtedly the Western Sandpiper.  I've been looking at shorebirds
closely for the last three years here and this was the first "spring"
Western that I had seen in Ohio.  According to what I've seen and read, the
species must be pretty rare here in spring, distinctly uncommon in fall, and
not expected at all in mid-June.  Fortunately this was a well-marked
individual in breeding plumage with rusty on the cap and auriculars and
scapulars, spotting / streaking on the sides, and very long bill, and we saw
it in direct comparison to a Semi and several Dunlins.

Aside from the shorebirds we had no surprises.  The resting flock of 40-plus
Common Terns included only one Forster's while we were there and no other
terns, and the only gulls seen were Herring and Ring-billed.  Numbers of
Mallards were flying around but we had no other ducks close enough to
identify.  Great Blue Heron (25), Great Egret (4), and Snowy Egret (1) were
the only large waders.

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

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