The current waterfowl migration, spectacular as it is simply to watch,
is a reminder to look for other hardier migrants this time of year.
Several Mississippi kite (!) reports have come from Florida over the
past week. These birds take the same overland route heading north as in
the fall, so this would be a quite early date for Florida IF these
reports are correct (I see no reports from Texas, contrastingly). At any
rate, we should start looking for kites here about late April (here I
am, talking about Mississippi kites as an Ohio breeder, who woulda thunk
it a year ago?), so birding golfers and golfing birders should get ready.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds, which move north right over the Gulf of
Mexico, unlike wimpy raptors, are passing through Florida and Texas now.
Which reminds me, don't forget those pioneering westerners, like rufous
hummingbirds, that have started wintering in the east. They migrate
early, soon now in some cases, and if you'd like to have Ohio's second
spring record, haul out your feeder--and your camera.
Jeffrey Spaulding's report of an Osprey nest-building on the 15th here
was nice and early; that pair at Salt Fork has been the first to get
busy recently. Brad Sparks had ospreys doing likewise locally at
Pickerington Ponds yesterday. Another species that's come a long way to
get here to nest.
Yellow-crowned night-herons were reported locally early at a spot on
the mid-east coast within the last week. We generally expect our Ohio
nesters about 1 Apr, but maybe we should start looking earlier this year...
Bill Whan
Columbus
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