Speaking of Ospreys:
I participate in the North American Bird Phenology Program, run out of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. I volunteer to convert information from bird sighting cards into their database. Basically, the BPP focused on recording the arrivals and departures of bird species on note cards, and ran from 1880 into the 1950s, amassing about 6 million cards. The current effort is compiling all that data into a modern database.
In the course of my data entry, I did come across an Osprey recording for Hillsboro from 1948, which included the first and last seen dates for both spring and fall migration. The first spring Osprey in Hillsboro was seen on April 9 and the last on June 1; the first fall Osprey was seen Sept. 19 and the last bird was on November 2nd.
Other interesting records that I've come across so far include Least Bittern in Oberlin, 1927, May 13-22, recorded by Lynds Jones, who described it as a common breeder; Nashville Warbler in Cleveland, 1935, recorded by Margarette E. Morse and noted as a breeder; and Snow Bunting in Columbus, November 10, 1928: 1 bird, noted as "rather rare."
Folks interested in participating can go here: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/index.cfm
Cheers!
Andy Sewell
Columbus, Ohio
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bill Whan
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 3:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] More osprey nests, purple martins
I've got expert confirmation of natural osprey nests in two more
counties: Trumbull and Summit. Clearly, these birds are settling in and
'branching out' on their own. As for purple martins, the following
comments were included a letter to a local Columbus newspaper on
9/22/1831: "I certainly do not know of any other way in which so much
additional beauty may be given to Columbus, as by merely taking down all
the martinboxes. The martin is a savage bird, beyond all question, and
to retain him among us may justly be compared as a badge of barbarism,
for we find that the Indians have always been fond of him." So there.
Bill Whan
Columbus
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