No verified Ohio sightings since 1991, actually. I posted about a draft
of this paper several years ago, but it has been finished:
http://www.fws.gov/southeast/birds/PDF/BEWR%20Status%20Assessment_Final_Mar09.pdf
Apparently it has been submitted to USF&WS to aid in the possible
redetermination of the Endangered Species Act status of the Bewick's
wrens that used to be found in Ohio.
        This is a very readable and well-researched article; it also has a
darkly humorous side. Cleveland's own J. W. Aldrich first described the
easternmost subspecies "altus" of Bewick's wren in 1944. This much
sootier-plumaged bird was the one found in Ohio, Kentucky, and West
Virginia. It turns out the difference might have been real soot, as the
museum specimens examined came from Appalachian locales during the
period when coal was indiscriminately burned for heat, places
where--according to one informant--the mockingbirds showed no white in
flight because they were so dirty. Combine this with the observed fact
that these wrens delighted in inhabiting deserted outbuildings, rusting
hulks of automobiles, and other trashy areas close to human habitations,
and you can tell how scientists may have been misled.
        There is a serious side, too, as this bird (of whatever subspecies) has
disappeared from the region over the past twenty years. I recommend the
paper to those interested in bird populations and history.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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