While we're all starting to think and search for migrants, sometimes other events keep up an insistent whispering that can really change our perceptions.  While staying in Gahanna for some family stuff today, I was still able to get out to visit some local spots, and I was surprised and perplexed by what I found.  A pattern is emerging this Summer: despite many birds listed as having OBBA breeding limits at the end of June or July, the birds clearly aren't reading the OBBA2 website.  Here are several examples:

Acadian Flycatcher - I had several birds on territory, and one looked like it was carrying food, at both Gahanna Woods & Jefferson Township Park woods yesterday.  That's Aug 8, well after the July 31 close date for this species.

Wood Thrush - a defensive pair were at Jefferson Township Park woods yesterday.  I couldn't find a fledgeling, but this would still be well beyond the July 31 date for this species.

Scarlet Tanager - I watched a defensive female finally drop into a forest thicket to feed a begging fledgeling yesterday at Jeff Township Park Woods, again well after the July 31 close date for tanagers.

Redwinged Blackbird - Paul Gardner and I watched a cautious female last Saturday at Battelle-Darby MetroPark carry food and scold us.  I finally saw her descend to a hidden nestling in a mass of prairie grass.  That's Aug 1, well after the June 30 close date on this species.

What's going on?  I think that the weird, unpredictable weather this Summer has stretched out a lot of bird breeding schedules.  It certainly has altered other wildlife parameters.  Wildflower bloom cycles are off 1-2 weeks, and pollinator numbers have also been thrown off.  Calling insects like cicadas and katydids have only just started in earnest in the last 1-2 weeks, well off schedule.  Butterfly numbers have been dismal, mostly because the usually well-defined 'hatches' of many species have been flattened by the weather, spreading smaller numbers over longer periods.  As one naturalist joked to me, this summer can be succinctly described as,  " August.  It's the new July."

So what's it mean to us?  It means the old 'rules' are going to be stretched this summer.  Many of us take comfort in the predictable cycles of birding, but this is a Summer when those cycles are out-of-whack.  If ever there was a summer when nesting will be delayed, or re-nesting attempted, this one is it.  So the result is that the normal limits - those little warnings that pop up when you fill out the OBBA charts - may not apply for many species this year.  Those of us in central and northern Ohio should be especially vigilant over the next 1-2 weeks for late nesting acitivty or nestlings.  We can watch and document as nature redefines what are the real time boundaries of nesting success.

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