Several ago I had one briefly vocalizing outside my apt on the top of a small dead tree at near dark. I barely got a sillouhette of him in a photograph because it was almost complete dark. Lasted for maybe 10 minutes and he was gone. I could have gotten a slightly lighter photograph but I was too busy juggling a laptop to google a vocalization to compare (and bin's, and a book as I leapt up off my couch) I don't exactly remember the time of year but I remember thinking he was probably migrating through and had just woken up from resting nearby maybe. Whether or not that is an actual possibility I don't know:) Marie, Fairborn OH that is in NW Greene County > Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2016 10:23:39 -0400 > From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Chuck-will's-widow > > Sorry, no sighting. Could someone point me to more information about > this species in Ohio? As for my experience, I recall them keeping me > awake while camping or at my brother's house in Adams County, but it > seems to be a mystery for many of us. The OSU Museum has 16 skins: five > from Adams Co, eight from Arkansas, and two from Florida. I have not > troubled curators of the museums in Cincinnati and Cleveland about other > specimens [if you have URLs where an interested member of the public can > search the catalogs of their collections please let me know!]. Peterjohn > (2001, pp. 282-3) mentions a bunch of credible Ohio records from dates > and other locations where nesting was suspected, if not confirmed. See > the excerpt below from my book about central Ohio, especially the news > from the late-lamented Canadian expert Alan Wormington that Point Pelee > had 37 records of this species at their much higher latitude! > Nightjars have very effective plumage and habits that evade birders > with binoculars. They vocalize, but only during a brief part of the > year. They are not as easy to map as robins and egrets. There are some > quite surprising records; see my account below, which mostly involves > Franklin County. Several of them come from a location only a couple > hundred yards from where I now sit in the Clintonville neighborhood of > Columbus, but Ontario is a stunning locale for these birds. > My NGO field guide shows the chuck's northernmost range as a finger > along the Ohio River extending as far east as Gallia County, but this > seems to be a guess. > Thanks, > Bill Whan > > "Chuck-will’s-widow Antrostomus carolinensis. Discovered by Ohio’s > ornithological community only in 1932, as nesters in Adams County, and > studied by OSU and Wheaton Club ornithologists (Thomas 1932). One was > collected the following year near Dayton (Blincoe, Auk (50(3):362). As > far as is generally known, a quite rare stray as far north as Franklin > County, although there are 37 records from Point Pelee alone, just > across Lake Erie in southern Ontario (A. Wormington, pers. comm.). Its > distinctive insistent call was heard in a limestone area in Upper > Arlington near the Scioto on the interesting date of 6/7/1952 by > earwitnesses, in person and over a telephone, at the time the species’ > northernmost known occurrence in Ohio (WB 65(1):43, Thomas MS at OHS). > Floyd Chapman, a witness to that 1952 event, also heard them singing in > two different years in the Walhalla Ravine during the 1960s and ‘70s > (precise dates unknown; J. Fry in litt.). A migrant was discovered by > daylight on a log at Green Lawn Cemetery 5/2/1983 (AB 37(5):876). A > Hamilton County specimen #35258 at the Cincinnati Museum came from > 2/28/1994, and that museum added another found in Clermont County on > 12/12/2005, attesting to this species’ occasional hardiness. Our > ignorance about its breeding range is well hinted by many regional > records of calling males, without further data, from Ohio well into > Ontario." > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > > ------------------------------ > > End of OHIO-BIRDS Digest - 6 Oct 2016 to 7 Oct 2016 (#2016-275) > *************************************************************** > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]