There is now a Purple Gallinule near Tawas Point in Michigan as well. This has definitely been an amazing spring for Gallinules. James Fox Farmington Hills, MI On May 17, 2010, at 7:36 AM, Bill Whan wrote: > I don't have news updating the status of the six purple > gallinules know > to have been in Ohio beginning on 2 May 2010, except that the first > known arrival continues in Lorain County, where I saw it yesterday, > hale > and hearty apparently. > Brainard Palmer-Ball of Kentucky has contributed important > information > to the picture, including the news that not one but three of these > birds > appeared in Kentucky, and two in Tennessee, on a very similar schedule > this spring. He was kind enough to send this page > http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=flood_050210_how_it_happened > from the NWS station in Louisville. > Some extraordinary weather conditions on 1 and 2 May caused a > lot of > destruction in the area, with winds as strong as 70 mph and at times > 1-2 > inches of rain per hour. This violent storm out of the southwest was > hemmed in somewhat by a strong high to the east, creating a turbulent > corridor of very strong northbound winds. > It seems this condition accompanied a migratory movement of this > southern bird species, and these fairly weak fliers were literally > sucked up far north of their normal destinations. A northward movement > over what is usually a broad front and for a relatively short distance > was transformed into a narrow corridor that landed a lot of them way > up > here. > This seems perfectly plausible to me, and after everything is > sorted > out it might be revealed that other species may have suffered the same > fate. It shows how we might learn to look for certain storm-waifs from > the south in rare spring conditions like these, just as we have > learned > to anticipate wind-blown wanderers in the wake of hurricanes in the > Gulf > of Mexico in the fall. > Bill Whan > Columbus > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]