Very few folks make their personal bird lists public, and that makes
sense. Far more valuable to readers are lists of species centered on
locations--data about the birds, not their human observers. Among these
data are seasons of occurrence, habitat preferences, nesting status,
abundance, behavior--answers to questions about when and where birds
might be found, how many are likely to be found, and how they behave.
Some observers will be interested in less immediate information: the
history of almost every species found in a given location is likely to
have changed during the past; red-cockaded woodpeckers used to nest in
downtown Columbus, Cincinnati hosted chuck-will's-widows in February,
geese flights caused the cessation of air travel in Cleveland, Columbus,
and Pittsburgh in the fall of 1969...none of these seems likely to
recur, but something new seems inevitable.
I am acquainted with half a dozen Ohio birders who are working on county
and regional checklists, and I encourage them to publish them.
My own--on the birds of seven counties of central Ohio--is published
only electronically, by the Columbus Audubon Society, at
https://columbusaudubon.org/resources/checklists-and-indexes-coh/. You
don't have to write your own checklist, but please submit interesting
occurrences to publications like the Ohio Cardinal so that your data
will be available in times to come!
Bill Whan
Columbus

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