Ned Keller is quite right about the trumpeter swan in Ohio.
Authorities have accepted it to the Ohio list, based mostly on
archaeological specimen material. Reports of sightings from long ago are
just too iffy, but a record of a bird collected in the state in 1900
appears in the OBRC checklist as the most recent one, presumably based
on the reputation of the reporter and consistencies with specimens taken
nearby in Kentucky in the same era, even though the specimen is now lost.
    Helpful also are Bob Powell's remarks contrasting the lister's take
on this topic versus that of scientists. As for the third-from-the-last
paragraph in the ABA Checklist Committee link he offers
http://www.aba.org/checklist/exotics.html  , it seems reasonable for
this committee to develop its own criteria for ABA listers, but for
scientific purposes it will not likely supersede decisions made by local
records committees and the AOU Check-list Committee. The ABA has been
very involved in developing criteria for determining the status of
exotic and introduced species, and its advice will be valuable.
    In Ohio, we will (through the OBRC) eventually be called upon to
decide on the status of new species. Monk parakeet is an example. There
are always a few of them around, reported from time to time. There are
specimens in Ohio museums dating back decades. Both Indiana and Illinois
have nesting colonies, and the records committees in both states have
after consideration added it to their states lists. I don't know if the
ABA committee disagrees about its inclusion on the Illinois list, based
on its remarks on the Chicago colonies on the site referenced above.
Anyway, if these exotic birds begin persistently nesting in Ohio, their
status will have to be determined, and not just for the convenience of
listers.
    The new OBRC Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ohio is just out:
see Ned's post of 8 January here for details. As for trumpeter swan
introductions, I invite those interested to read the voluminous material
available at   http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/swans.html
; most has already been published elsewhere, but this is a convenient
collection of them.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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