Spoonbills seem to be all over the east coast, as well as in Florida.
Whistling-ducks are moving north all over the place. The well-known
phenomenon of post-breeding wandering by southern species is underway,
with unusual intensity. Finally, Ohio seems to be partaking of this
movement, with the discovery of a young white ibis in Guernsey County
the other day.
        In Greene County, Indiana, a spectacular retinue of southern
waterbirds--and excellent numbers of local ones--has been reported from
inland at Goose Pond WMA. Some are part of the post-breeding phenomenon,
others probably not. See the IN list's excellent archives for late June
and July at https://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa-iub.exe?A0=IN-BIRD-L
  for first-hand reports. So amazing has this place been that I've made
a quick-and-dirty list of waterbirds (max numbers in single sightings)
reported there during the last three weeks:

Black-bellied whistling-duck 3
Fulvous whistling-duck 5
Mottled duck 5-6 (multiple observers, verification pending)
~eight-ten other duck species
Am white pelican  22
Am bittern 2
Least bittern 7
Great egret 77
Little blue heron 4
Cattle egret 40
Black-crowned night-heron 34, evidence of nesting
Yellow-crowned night-heron 5
White ibis 5
Glossy ibis 2
White-faced ibis
Roseate spoonbill
Mississippi kite
King rail
Virginia rail 2
C. moorhen 5
Am. coot, nest
Black-necked stilt 18+
~ many other shorebird spp
Least tern 3, plus black, Forster's, and Caspian

Plus the multitude of less unusual birds typical of what looks to be a
well-managed wetlands complex*. Certainly this is a landmark event in
Indiana, and we have never experienced anything remotely like it in
Ohio. We probably should expect fewer southern birds in Ohio than in
Indiana, as they're closer to the Mississippi, or in more eastern
states, where the ocean funnels wanderers, like the spoonbills and
whistling-duck in Delaware. But I do wonder why we have no more than a
juvenile white ibis and a brown pelican to show for this continent-wide
phenomenon. Habitat? Observer effort? Too late to do much about the
former, but let's all pay some special attention to wetlands about
now...thanks to Renee, who did.
Bill Whan
Columbus

*See, among many others, accounts at:
http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewSiteProfile.do?siteId=2126
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/NEWS/thisweek/2004/041006/inbeehunterwrp.html






______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]