Bill gves a good concise overview of where to find
information on Ohio birds among primary sources,
especially that of seasonal distribution. But a brief
addenda if I may with regard to North American Birds,
the quarterly review of ornithological sightings published
by the American Birding Association. Seen as a body of
work over decades, I must agree with Bill when he says
"[it] seldom bothers to recognize late and early
records for Ohio" ... or at least so was the case during
a time of severe space constraints whilst covering
IA, MO, much of KY, IN, IL, and most of Ohio in a single
review. However, since the spring of 2003,
I would like to point out that coincident with an
expansion of the text and re-alignment of the region,
I have printed every late and early record date for each
state I cover (OH, WV, PA) ... at least that of which I
am made aware and sufficient details exist to convince
me of the veracity of the record. The matter of population
change is at the heart of my professional ornithological
interests. I have attempted to address these in editorials
from The Ohio Cardinal, Ohio Birds and Natural History
and now North American Birds. I have
discussed early and late dates within the context of
reverse migration, broad-front migration vs overflights,
territorial philopatry, peak migrations shifts, egg dates,
etc. In other words, I try to provide some biological
context, if only by supposition and not conclusion, for
some of these outliers of the main data set. That said,
The Ohio Cardinal will always provide for a level of detail
of individual records that a more regional treatment cannot.
I also highly value and support more local efforts within
Ohio to get raw observations into the public venue where
researchers can tease apart patterns and trends. If you
ever doubt, please be assured that someone is always
examining the import of your observations.
There remains another resource one may query for dates,
although admittedly it is a diamond-in-the-rough, and the
data set presently is so limited as to only provide a sense
of future possibilities. And that is Project eBird. I will want
to explore the utility of this online database more fully
another time. For now, I invite the reader to visit
http://ebird.org/
and click on the Ohio link at right off the main page.
Up comes the seasonal distribution as graphed from the
data entered thus far in 2007. Quickly one will see
major gaps with respect to the more uncommon species
but this vetted database does hold promise for provided
a near real-time look at seasonal distribution, one that
can be manipulated to reflect multiple years, a single
county, or on a finer scale a single month .... one can
spend hours bringing up different possibilities.
Please feel free to contact with any questions
regarding either North AMerican Birds or Project eBird.
cheers
Vic Fazio
Regional Editor, OH-WV-PA, North American Birds
Project eBird: Ohio record review
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Recently on this list questions have come up about record-late
occurrences of certain species. With the recent warming of the climate,
observers also wonder about record-early appearances in the spring, as
well as the occasional surprising mid-winter bird. No doubt more and
more records are going to be broken, not only because of the weather,
but because more and more birders, increasingly knowledgeable and
interconnected, are on the scene.
Several times over the past week questions have arisen about late
records, and it might be worthwhile mentioning where the answers are.
For these and many other inquiries, your first resort should be
Peterjohn's "The Birds of Ohio." This work covers the published record
with great care. Still, it does not treat museum specimens, and of
course contains no information since climate warming seems to have
increased its pace over recent years.
Checklists, for all their usefulness, seldom treat these outlying
records. The most detailed, the OBRC annotated checklist, linked at
http://www.ohiobirds.org/publications/checklist/checklists.php is great
for records of rare species and normal periods for the rest, but does
not treat casual or isolated occurrences at odd times of year.
Periodicals cover and update such records. "North American Birds" does
this on a regional level, but seldom bothers to recognize late and early
records for Ohio. "The Cleveland Bird Calendar" and "The Bobolink" keep
good track of records in the counties they cover, and "The Ohio
Cardinal" does so on a state level. These are the sources on which books
like "The Birds of Ohio" largely rely, and the best source of this
information.
For late Ohio records of ruby-throated hummingbird, for example,
Peterjohn is out of date. Two well-documented birds in 2002 stayed until
30 November, one in Westerville and one in Massillon; the Bobolink
published the latter, the Cardinal both. The current Toledo bird is
setting a new record with each passing day, and will be duly chronicled
in the latter journal.
Peterjohn is understandably vague about late records of ospreys,
another source of questions recently. The great majority of published
December and January records come from Christmas Bird Counts, where the
numbers of inexperienced observers involved provoke extra scrutiny olf
such reports. In many cases compilers' annotations cast doubt on these
IDs, but there are a few with varying degrees of documentation. I find
only a handful of winter records accepted by periodicals. One was
documented in Lorain Co on 13 Jan 1980, another reported in Hocking Co
on 20 Feb 1982, and birds were photographed in 2004 in Darke and Clark
counties on 12 and 15 December respectively. The earliest spring arrival
seems to date from 9 Mar 1991. So Ohio seems to have accepted records of
ospreys in every month of the year.
Bill Whan
Columbus
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Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
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