A forthcoming book on bird coloration, in the Nat'l Geo series,
promises to be quite interesting:
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=6200571&code=MR20380

The author is Geoff Hill, perhaps most familiar to birders as the Auburn
University ornithologist responsible for the ivory-billed woodpecker
search in the Florida panhandle:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/science_math/cosam/departments/biology/faculty/webpages/hill/ivorybill/index.html
        Ravens: a pair was discovered nesting in Queens, NY, in the greater New
York City area, hardly a boreal wilderness. According to first-hand
reports I have heard, it is indeed true that the ODNR allowed logging to
take place at the locality of Jefferson County's raven nest, the first
verified in the state in many decades. If these birds manage to nest
again elsewhere, they probably have gotten started by now. If they
don't, you know whom to blame.
        Shorebirds: the first American golden-plovers have been seen west of
here on their migration north. These birds usually use the central
flyway in the spring, but they can appear here then in numbers (I once
saw ~5000 at Killdeer), but mostly when strong storms divert them
eastward, something that might be happening over the next few days. Keep
an eye out for them in fields, but don't expect big numbers for 2-3
weeks yet. We have already been seeing killdeers, snipes, woodcocks, as
well as least sandpipers, which have apparently successfully wintered in
Ohio, even in this severe season, along the Great Miami River again; a
few used to tough it out at Buck Creek SP, but have not been recorded
this year that I can recall. Dunlins too used to overwinter in the state
once in a while, but apparently not this year. We've already had one
tentative report of a (greater) yellowlegs, and pectoral sandpipers
should show up soon.
Bill Whan
Columbus




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