Just talked with friends who live in Ontario near the latitude of
Algonquin PP, and their weather closely resembles ours today, so this is
a big system, It also resembles the weather we witnessed ~October 10 in
2007, when temperatures dropped precipitously and strong winds out of
the N and W prevailed for days.
        While the timing is slightly different, this front could easily bring
in unusual numbers of certain rare--or at least seldom seen--migrants
from the northern prairie marshes, like Nelson's and Le Conte's sparrows
and yellow rails, which were seen in 2007 in numbers unprecedented in
recent years.
        So it may well pay to stay alert for these elusive visitors in the
coming week or so. Spots along the Lake were productive two years ago,
but Wayne County was even better, and Le Conte's were found as far south
as Cincinnati. These species were found in fall across glaciated Ohio in
similar weather conditions in years past. Productive habitats included
marshes and wet spots, and damp pasture-like areas. Among the sparrows
Le Conte's seemed to favor drier areas than Nelson's, and yellow rails,
at least the healthy ones, were most often found by the luckier
sparrow-seekers who inadvertently kicked them up. Unlike the rails,
these beautiful sparrows can often be admired at leisure if you are careful.
        One is tempted to wonder if other scarce migrants from the north and
west who pass through at this time, like Sabine's gulls, or long-tailed
jaegers; possibly, but they are much more agile flyers, less bothered by
strong winds, and seem to prefer travel across water. Still, if there
are brisk northerlies on the back side of this low, they might be easier
to see as they pass along the Erie south shore.
Hoping this is helpful, and as my mom always said, wear your boots,
Bill Whan
Columbus

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