Hello all... After reports of the Stygian Owl and a Great Horned Owl attacking/killing/carrying off a 25-lb. Shelty Dog earlier today, I was a bit skeptical of the report of a Black-necked Stilt at Kiser Lake, especially since this is a full 2 weeks earlier than any record that can be found in the current annotated checklist of Ohio Birds, published by the OBRC. And so after that brief thought of skepticism, we headed to Kiser Lake at about 5:30 PM, arriving at the East end of the lake at about 6:50 PM. Not being familiar with this area, the map showed a road going N out of St. Paris (about 12 miles W of Urbana on SR 36) that ended near the East end of the lake. The first parking area/fishing access put us in a pretty good position for glassing that end of the lake, where the wetlands begin, and within a couple minutes of getting out of the car, we had spotted the bird near the cattails and shoreline. By the time I got the scope set up, there were two (a
 male and female), and then there were two more, on to the N and in shallow water near the end of a peninsula. And then there were 2 flying, then 4, and then 5 of them!
After circling the E end of the lake a couple of times, they headed E/SE toward Urbana and eventually out of scopes view. This was at about 7:00 PM. We birded on around the lake for another 45 minutes or so, but the birds had not returned when we left. Looking at the maps, the nearest body of water in the direction they were headed is an apparent reservoir on the SW side of Urbana. I suppose they could return to Kiser Lake, but it looked like they were headed out of there for some distance. I don't know if this is the earliest date for this species in Ohio, but their numbers, and the number of sightings, seems to be increasing each year, and they may become the next species to be taken off our Ohio Review List?
 
Good birding,
Dan

Dan Sanders
42 Scioto St
Powell, OH 43065
614-596-5666
<[log in to unmask]>

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]