----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]> To: "Dean Sheldon" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2013 7:54 AM Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Black terns > Dean-- > Thanks much for writing to share those observations. Relatively few Ohio > birders, at least among those who read electronic communications, have any > idea about black tern numbers in the old days, and I wish you'd posted > your remarks to Ohio-birds so everyone could see them. Today only a few > observers see black terns, even though they have to migrate over the state > twice yearly. And apparently few of these folks wonder why. 'Twas not ever > thus. > Bill > > On 8/10/2013 4:55 PM, Dean Sheldon wrote: >> BILL: Just to confirm your observations and.... >> going back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Lake Erie water >> levels were very low and many of the marshes had all but dried up >> >>>hundreds of Black Terns nested in the cattails at what is now >> Sheldon Marsh SNP. >> No scientific survey was made, but I can tell you that there were >> hundreds of nesting Black Terns in the marshlands extending west from >> the Old Cedar Point Roadway to the Willow Road [the Cedar Point Chaussee >> Road not the "new causeway") leading out to the east end of the >> resdential area. >> The birds were THICK and swarmed continually throughout the dried-up >> marsh area and were very much in evidence during the daylight hours. It >> was just spectacular and a never-to-be-forgotten lifetime birding >> experience of the first magnitude. >> I hope that this adds to your Black Tern recollections. As >> always.....Dean >> Dean E Sheldon Jr >> Greenwich (Huron County) >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2013 7:33 PM >> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Black terns >> >> >>> It is neat to hear reports of black terns around the state. This is the >>> time of year these terns, almost certainly from nesting grounds north of >>> Ohio, begin their fall movements south to salt-water winter habitats in >>> central America. A century ago, they were regarded as very common summer >>> residents and breeders in marshes up in northern Ohio, but it seems to >>> have been human alterations of their habitat--especially aquatic >>> vegetation--that drove them away. Trautman described draining of their >>> marsh breeding grounds to allow crops to be grown and especially for >>> waterfowl to be hunted in season. Now an Ohio tern nest is big news. >>> Even farther north, they are hard to find; Michigan birders report that >>> black terns are being harassed by alien introduced swans--mutes and >>> trumpeters--in their ancestral breeding grounds. I can't imagine Ohio's >>> introduced swans have helped, either. Anyway, this is prime time to see >>> members of this remnant population on their way south, and if you're >>> lucky you can still see these slinky black beauties over a variety of >>> watery settings on their way. >>> 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]