But everyone knows Robins are the harbinger of spring! Haans On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 4:54 PM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Turkey vultures and blackbirds can be false signs of spring. Snipes and > rails can winter in Ohio, too, and there are even records of woodcocks > doing so. > Larry Rosche told me the other day that every winter of his birding > career about half a million wintering blackbirds have been roosting in > Barberton; there are some big winter roosts in western Lake Erie > marshes, too. My folks used to host at least a hundred wintering TVs in > their Ohio back yard every year. Bluebirds winter widely. No, the true > first arrivals have to be birds only freakishly seen in the winter, > regular species you can count on as infallible first arrivals of spring. > I'd be interested in what species readers think really qualify as > newsworthy in this way. > Good candidates are pectoral sandpipers, chimney swifts, and > Louisiana > waterthrushes. Sure, tree swallows and purple martins can blunder in on > a wing and a prayer, but pectorals and swifts have come all the way from > South America, on a very deliberate itinerary and spring arrival time. > Unlike a vulture loafing up from the next county south, their flocks > can't risk everything on finding warm weather out of season. And the > waterthrushes's voice in a chilly damp glen is all the more welcome for > being the earliest promise kept among songbirds. > 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<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]