Dear Ohio Birders, 

Have any of you had the good fortune to find a Northern Parula nest in Ohio?
 Parulas are best known for the nests they tuck into clumps of hanging
lichens, like Spanish ‘moss’ in southern states or in long beard lichens in
more northern forests.  However, neither of these beard-like lichens is
found in Ohio.  

Parula nests are hard to find!  During the 6-year Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas
II, volunteers observed only 3 parula nests!  In fact, far more Cerulean
Warbler nests (a difficult nest to find) were discovered.  In Ohio, parulas
are mentioned as nesting in hemlock or other conifers and Dwight and Ann
Chasar wrote an interesting article in the Ohio Cardinal about a pair of
Northern Parulas nesting in the boughs of a Norway Spruce in Cuyahoga County
in the 1990s.  There is some evidence from Ohio and other states that
parulas will also tuck their nests into high water flood debris--the clumps
of vegetation that get stranded in low hanging branches of riparian trees. 
We’re especially interested in knowing whether you’ve seen this type of nest
in Ohio, but would be happy to hear about any nesting reports (recent or not).  

Thanks for any information or thoughts you may have.  Please respond to me
directly via email.  Happy winter birding!

***************************************************
Paul G. Rodewald
Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II 
The Ohio State University
School of Environment and Natural Resources
2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1085

______________________________________________________________________

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]