Not long ago I pointed out that interesting new Ohio species could be
found in the specimen lists of museums in other states. I gave a
specimen of Brewer's sparrow collected in Ohio and preserved elsewhere
as an example; it turns out that another one comes from U Kansas as
#90484; it could be an entire specimen or just an egg; at any rate, it
comes from our Hamilton County.
        Several Ohio specimens of vanished species are at U. Mich from
Cleveland: two passenger pigeons from Cleveland in 1863, a Carolina
parakeet there the same year.  At the Royal Ontario Museum are three
passenger pigeons, one from Kramer Ditch in Lucas County and two from
Clark County.
        The National Museum has Ohio specimens of Kirtland's warbler
from Cleveland (skin, alcohol remains, partial skeleton 9/25/1975). It
also has an ivorybill from Scioto County #320086, a parasitic jaeger
from Port Clinton 11/1/1895, an immature gyrfalcon from Pickaway County
in 1971, an Iceland gull from Vermilion #2933053, a yellow rail from
Canton 10/12/1887 #525732, and the AMNH has a black-capped petrel from
Hamilton County 4/29/1877, #749105.  The Canadian Museum has a specimen
of a thick-billed murre Uria lomvia in Belmont County in 1889 when vast
numbers invaded the US. The Canadian Academy of Science has a male
yellow-bellied X red-naped sapsucker from Cuyahoga County #18542, and a
northern shrike from 1898 in Westwood, Hamilton County.
        These are a few specimens that caught my eye from a online museum
colections; there could be many more interesting Ohio records out there
that could be heretofore unknown (such as Brewer's sparrow), or present
in counties of Ohio that have not been reported thus far.
        As museums make their holdings available, we'll learn more
about bird distribution here. One hopes that the Cincinnati and
Cleveland collections will soon be available online!
Bill Whan
Columbus


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