Dear Ohio Birders, Have any of you had the good fortune to find a Northern Parula nest in Ohio? Parulas are best known for the nests they tuck into clumps of hanging lichens, like Spanish ‘moss’ in southern states or in long beard lichens in more northern forests. However, neither of these beard-like lichens is found in Ohio. Parula nests are hard to find! During the 6-year Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II, volunteers observed only 3 parula nests! In fact, far more Cerulean Warbler nests (a difficult nest to find) were discovered. In Ohio, parulas are mentioned as nesting in hemlock or other conifers and Dwight and Ann Chasar wrote an interesting article in the Ohio Cardinal about a pair of Northern Parulas nesting in the boughs of a Norway Spruce in Cuyahoga County in the 1990s. There is some evidence from Ohio and other states that parulas will also tuck their nests into high water flood debris--the clumps of vegetation that get stranded in low hanging branches of riparian trees. We’re especially interested in knowing whether you’ve seen this type of nest in Ohio, but would be happy to hear about any nesting reports (recent or not). Thanks for any information or thoughts you may have. Please respond to me directly via email. Happy winter birding! *************************************************** Paul G. Rodewald Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, Ohio 43210-1085 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]