Peterjohn does mention these records, although erroneously attributes the 28 March 1950 record to Toledo. If one would care to, one may examine the eBird record here. http://tinyurl.com/ckt9wzz or simply go to http://ebird.org/ebird/map/ and enter Hooded Warbler and select March to March in All Years. There you will find the 28 March 1950 record not merely in Ottawa County but at the specific site for the record, South Bass Island. Clicking on the checklist link will further give the citation (not Peterjohn). FYI, this data record was created 20 Feb 2012, part of the archival effort at eBird that has seen several thousand records from the PRIMARY literature entered and vetted within the database since the first of the year. It is this comprehensive review of the Ohio ornithological record, not reliance on any one source, which permitted me to communicate to Andy Sewell my belief the 25 March report, corroborated by multiple experienced observers, represents a new record early spring arrival for Ohio. As regards the recent find of Nelson's Sparrows, I made these remarks to Ryan Steiner Sat evening within the context of my eBird review of his find. "The simplest answer is these birds over-wintered. There is a prior wintering attempt by 3 birds in Cleveland surviving at least through 1 Feb. This makes more sense than a departure from the coast 8 weeks ahead of the norm." As to why that is the simplest answer, one may visualize by going back to the above eBird map link and entering Nelson's Sparrow keeping the same date parameters. There you will see a stark distribution whereby there is not a single March eBird record for the species away from a coastal location anywhere in the United States. cheers Vic Fazio State Reviewer - Ohio and Oklahoma, Project eBird Please do not use this email for personal correspondece Please contact me at [log in to unmask] ________________________________ From: Paul Gardner <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, March 26, 2012 9:21:05 AM Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Hooded warbler and other early spring dates --- On Mon, 3/26/12, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Andy Sewell tells me our discovery > yesterday of a hooded warbler at > Scioto Trails SP has been deemed by eBird Ohio's earliest > record. And so > it would be if you consulted only Peterjohn's "The Birds of > Ohio." > However, there is a specimen at the Ohio State Museum, > #7947, collected > "greatly emaciated" in Ottawa County by M. B. Trautman on > 3/28/1950, and > two seen on 4/2 of that same year in Columbus (AFN > 4(4):245). What am I missing? A sighting on March 25, 2012 is earlier than the three "non-Peterjohn" examples cited. Since the topic of early dates for warblers has been broached, may I ask if anyone has any further information about the flock of Black-throated Blue Warblers reported from Blendon Woods last week? Photographs are said to exist, but I haven't seen them posted anywhere. Is more information forthcoming? Happy birding, Paul ______________________________________________________________________ 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]