Hello Ohio Birders, A thought in reaction to Bill's comments: The "initial discoveries" noted by Bill may have been concentrated in central Ohio not only because of relative ease of observation/collection but also might reflect the distribution of competent observers. Not to take anything away from Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton or Cincinnati area birders but central Ohio has long been a bastion of birding expertise (Wheaton, Trautman, Claugus et al.), and more birding effort was expended closer to home in the days before Interstate highways. (I commenced my birding career in the Boston area and in the early 1950s and if a rarity showed up on the Rhode Island coast one simply would not, and could not, make a "chase" and return in a single day.) Happy birding! Dave Horn Columbus OH Worcester, MA On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 2:03 PM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I'm just finishing a final run through my work on the 382 bird > species of central Ohio ( > http://columbusaudubon.org/resources/checklists-and-indexes-coh/ ), and > I notice among other anomalies the number of Ohio water-loving species > which were said to have been first recorded from central Ohio and not > Lake Erie. They include: > both eiders, king and common > all three scoters, black, white-winged, surf > cinnamon teal > Eurasian wigeon > magnificent frigatebird > long-tailed jaeger > gulls: kittiwake and Franklin's gull, Sabine's gull > Check the dates at > http://columbusaudubon.org/resources/checklists-and-indexes-coh/ to see > the dates, or have a look at Peterjohn's "The Birds of Ohio.". All I can > think is that central Ohio's lakes and reservoirs were far more easy to > search for these water-loving species. Perhaps these species were hard > to see well or collect (some were collected but lost in museum fires up > north) from the lake and the shore. Certainly central Ohio does not > truly deserve recognition as the first-discovery location of these birds... > Bill Whan > Columbus > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/members > hip.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] > ______________________________________________________________________ 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]