Thanks to Carole for the observations. She also mentions Wheaton's book
on Ohio birds. It was widely praised by the big names in ornithology in
its day, and is the first important Ohio work succeeding the
professionalization of the discipline. Wheaton was very scrupulous, and
his work covered everything that was known in 1882; it is of course of
great historical interest, but is worth consulting for much more.
        This work is only part of the "Report of the Geological Survey of
Ohio," which also contains extended coverage of mammals, reptiles and
amphibians, and fishes. Because there are very few illustrations, you
can usually find a rather cheap copy. It has also been scanned for the
internet, at
http://books.google.com/books?id=PYpIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA489&lpg=PA489&dq=Wheaton,+Birds+of+Ohio&source=bl&ots=LXnvMThxIF&sig=8xwyHqvcisRIRHmvMSTm-XKkZME&hl=en&ei=IvM-TIDBAoH6lwfG34XdCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBzgU#v=onepage&q=Wheaton%2C%20Birds%20of%20Ohio&f=false
It seems harder to find recently, as Google, perhaps doing a bit of
evil, seems to have pushed copies for sale up higher than readable ones;
in fact, it didn't appear at all in a search for '"Report on the Birds
of Ohio" Wheaton,' which is a shame. Fortunately all the older Ohio bird
works---books or sections thereof by Wheaton, Jones, Dawson, Davie,
Kirtland, etc., and journal articles by almost everyone else--can be
found in searchable electronic form. If you have trouble finding
something, write me and maybe I can give a URL.
        Finally, weary as I am of debating peregrines, I will mention that both
the birds that made Ohio's first nesting were already banded and neither
proved to be a wild bird; in fact, the band that could be read was of a
Canadian bird (good, because only the Canadians insisted on releasing
birds of the local subspecies, anatum) hacked in Alberta and released in
Ontario.
        Of course humans did not, and probably could not, deliberately
introduce peregrines into Toledo or any other city and expect them to
remain, but the birds that ended up the hotel--at least the one
determined, and probably both--had been artificially fostered and
released. Could peregrine nests have gone from zero to 35 in a place
like Ohio under natural circumstances just over the past forty years
just because we have tall buildings? Is it responsible to talk about the
status of Ohio peregrines without carefully considering the massive
introduction project? Have trumpeter swans rediscovered their ancestral
nesting grounds in Ohio over the past twenty years, or maxima Canada
geese over the past sixty?
        As for other birds the authorities introduced here with the very best
of intentions, I won't repeat the widely-known horror stories, but
rather this from back in the day when even cowboy amateurs did so:
shortly after a lengthier but ultimately unsuccessful introduction in
Cincinnati (surely Ohio's center of introduced birds), another was
initiated in Columbus, recorded thus: "'In the autumn of 1851, Mr.
Bateham, on his return from England, brought a cage of the real English
Skylarks, which, after keeping a few weeks at his residence, near the
Lunatic Asylum, were set at liberty in the grove back of that
institution. They very shortly disappeared entirely, and no doubt
perished, either in the severe winter which followed, or by the hand of
the fowler."  Thank goodness, though at least larks wouldn't be eating
the local birds...but they might still be around if they could.
Bill Whan
Columbus



Carole Babyak wrote:
> The first nesting of the Youngstown Peregrines showed them also
> catching Cuckoo - both Yellow-billed and Black-billed.   And no one
> in the area was seeing Cuckoos   - however the Mahoning River is
> close and most of the riparian habitat is industrial and
> inaccessible- so the habitants of the Mahoning Corridor are unknown.
> The Warren Falcons are eating Pigeons   again the Mahoning River is
> near.
>
> I found an interesting old book: The Geological Survey of Ohio Vol IV
> Zoology & Botany  (Columbus State Printers, 1882)    In it they
> identify the Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter fuscus - common name Pigeon
> Hawk, as well as the Merlin being called Pigeon Hawk!.     The
> Peregrine is called Duck Hawk   and I quote  "Not rare in Northern
> and Northwestern Ohio, rare in the Middle, and not identified in
> Southern Ohio.  This large Hawk,...is not uncommon in the vicinity of
> Cleveland, where is appears to be chiefly a migrant, and perhaps a
> winter visitor.  Mr. Dury, ...procured specimens from the St. Mary's
> Reservoir, where it may possibly breed, as it has been found breeding
> in corresponding latitudes in Illinois.  In the vicinity of Columbus
> it is rare.     ... The nest of the Duck Hawk is usually placed in
> nearly inaccessible places on rocks, sometimes in trees." J.M.
> Wheaton, M.D.
>
>
> A comment about House Sparrows,  they are found in Northern North
> Dakota in winter, around the big grain elevators and also in N.
> cities such as Minot, where the norm can be -40 F with 40-70 mph
> winds. - plus REAL BLIZZARDS.      Don't know if this is just
> survival skills  or a measure of intelligence.   Note:  Starlings are
> not present in N. ND in winter - survival skills or intelligence?
>
> Carole Babyak
>

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