I heard a yellow-billed cuckoo on Monday here in Adams County.
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Pete Whan
Appalachian Forest Program Manager
The Nature Conservancy of Ohio
Edge of Appalachia Preserve
4274 Waggoner Riffle Rd.
West Union, OH 45693
Ph. 937-544-2188 ext. 13
fax 937-544-7030
email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Nathaniel Nye
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 2:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] Early cuckoos or other migrants?
Hello birders,
I am curious whether anyone else has seen any very early cuckoos or
other
migrants this year....here's why:
I recently reported a Yellow-billed Cuckoo which I saw at Tar Hollow
State
Park on March 24, 2010. I just finished writing up a report and
submitting
it to the OBRC (if you'd like to read it, let me know off-list and I'll
email it). As many of you are aware, this is extremely early for a
cuckoo
in Ohio, and I'm wondering if this was an isolated phenomenon or whether
others have seen any early cuckoos (or other species). The OBRC may not
accept my sighting (very understandably) because it was a very brief
sighting, I didn't see it with binoculars, and what I recall of its call
was
not totally typical of either cuckoo. Peterjohn gives April 21st as the
earliest accepted date for Y-b Cuckoo arrival in Ohio. The earliest
known
date for this species in Georgia is March 21st. Nevertheless, I
(personally) am 100% sure it was a cuckoo, and 95% sure it was
Yellow-billed. There are several other reports in the U.S. of early
Yellow-billed Cuckoos this year, including one specimen found dead on
the
beach at Salisbury, Massachusetts on 28 March 2010. One was also
reported
along the coast of New Jersey near the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal on
25
March 2010.
Furthermore, does anyone have any ideas about why a cuckoo would show up
so
early this year? One birder in Pennsylvania recently blogged about the
very
early outbreak of tentworms in her area, which she states usually
coincides
with cuckoo migration in early May (
http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2010/04/13/signs-of-spring-redbud/). I
also
saw my first tentworms of the year today (4/15), on a tree not far from
my
house in Hilliard. I hypothesized that maybe the early availability of
tentworms for food has led to cuckoos coming north early. Any thoughts
for
or against that idea, or any other ideas/observations?
Thanks and good birding,
Nate Nye
Hilliard, OH
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______________________________________________________________________
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Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
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