Ohio Birders:
I've enjoyed reading recent Red-breasted Nuthatch reports--thanks to allfor your responses. Most of these birds are migrants orlingering winter birds, but as Aaron Boone pointed out earlier, breeding by"RBNUs" south of their typical range occurs more frequentlyfollowing strong fall flights ("invasions") as we had in fall2007. Certainly, we now have a good opportunity to document nestingby this species, a rare nester in Ohio.
A few thoughts I wanted to pass along...keep an eye on conifer stands(spruce, hemlock, pine), both natural and planted, including those inboth forested and residential areas. Pay special attention toindividuals recorded in May as these are much more likely to bebreeding. While you are looking for conifers, keep an ear open for Golden-crowned Kinglets. This species is another rarenesting bird in Ohio, but there have been recent breeding recordsin conifer plantings especially in northeastern counties (Portage, Columbiana,Lake, Summit, Medina, etc). There are also recent nesting recordsfrom Maumee State Forest and Mohican S.F. In Pennsylvania, I've noticed that GC Kinglets seemed preferential to spruce plantings (typically Norway spruce) in more forested areas. For both RBNU and GCKinglet, I'd also suggest paying attention to songs of the species asthese are strongly linked to breeding areas. In RBNU, songis often a long, slow, even series of nasal "eeenk" notes; in GCKinglet, the song is a very high pitched and rising series of high"see" notes, followed by chickadee-like chatter notes, droppingin pitch. These songs are not typically given in migration.
Please keep looking for Red-breasted Nuthatches and Golden-crownedKinglets and watch for breeding activities. Your sightingscan be e-mailed to us or entered on-line through the Ohio Breeding BirdAtlas II website: http://www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/
Thanks,
Paul Rodewald
Paul G. Rodewald
Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II
The Ohio State University
School of Environment and Natural Resources
2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1085
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