Just had an enlightening talk with Troy Shively, who always has an
intelligent eye on his surroundings. He most often birds the Indian Lake
area, which is largely ignored even though it lies along one of the
major migratory routes in Ohio--extending from Toledo to Cincinnati
(think of where most of the cranes show up, or the golden eagles); you
can call it the I-75 corridor, or the old Ohio Canal route, or the Miami
River corridor, but it's important. He found a group of nests near
Indian Lake that resembled night-heron nests; they're abandoned now of
course, but he'll keep an eye on them in April. This was where Ohio's
first yellow-crowned night-heron nest was discovered in 1928.
Black-crowned night-herons have nested in far greater numbers--up to ten
thousand at West Sister Island in Lake Erie!--but they are nearly as
rare inland, and are possibly the architects of these nests. Just a
reminder that inactive nests are easiest to find this time of year, and
well worth visiting--of course with care--in the spring...
Bill Whan
Columbus

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


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