Hello all!

First of all, I am putting a link to my eBird checklist from yesterday at Nimisila Reservoir (Summit Co.) here  https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44827677  in case anyone would like to look at it.  It has many photos and also audio if you would like to see how the various tools, including breeding status, can be used in eBird to provide more data.

So, the question I am considering is whether or not this spring migration is running behind.  I know that it sure feels that way, but I am also wondering if our past several warm springs have created different expectations about arrivals?  This year, we had a brief warm up in February, then March was quite cold and the winds have been largely unfavorable for migration ever since with few exceptions.  That will be changing in the next 2 weeks if you look at the longer range forecasts.

So, are we behind?  Well, this morning I took a look at the bar charts in eBird for Ohio and it appears that we are pretty much on schedule historically.  My sightings yesterday seem to be consistent with that historical trend as I saw many, many Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  I also saw a lot of Golden-crowned Kinglets at Nimisila, but not a other spots.  At Sippo, I only saw a few, whereas Ruby-crowned were scattered around the park.  I had a Hermit Thrush at both Nimisila and at Sippo (Stark Co.).  I had a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Sippo.  In terms of waterfowl, the trend of the past 2 weeks continued with what appeared to be essentially the same groups at areas I have been checking, so it was mostly Bufflehead, Ruddy Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned Grebes, and Common Loons.  At spots like Lake Cable (Stark Co.), there appears to have been almost no turnover for 7-10 days as of yesterday.

I had Caspian Terns at Nimisila, Sippo, and Lake Cable yesterday.  There were 15 at Lake Cable.  

On Saturday, Ben Morrison, Kent Miller, and I spent the day in Guernsey County continuing our 2018 survey.  We expected to find many more migrants than we did.  We did NOT see Blue-headed Vireo, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, or other migrants that often are at least sporadically represented in the kind of prime habitat we checked.  We did, however, happen upon a Ruffed Grouse on a remote road in NW Guernsey, which was a real treat as these birds are clearly in serious decline in Ohio.  The day is pretty well summed up by Kent saying “we are not hearing or seeing much more than we would see on a January or February day in these areas.”  True indeed.

Guernsey is far enough south that it is, at least in my mind, strange to have such a day on 4/21.  Further north, maybe not so much, as those north winds have kept our friends on the lakefront cold and discouraged so far this spring.  

So, to my thinking, I suppose things do SEEM late, but I cannot say that this holds up historically.  Perhaps we are all just tired of the cold and snow and want those bright Warblers here yesterday so that our hearts and minds will be thawed and ready for warmer days…which are arriving.  

Finally, I wonder what we will see when those South/Southwest winds do unleash what is staging to our south.  Might we see fallout conditions where these birds hit rain or small fronts?  Maybe.  If you can find yourself on the south side of a sizable rainstorm like we did in Noble County in May of 2015, you might just have the kind of day we did, which concluded with an amazing 29 species of Warblers INLAND in Ohio and in large numbers per species.  

Watch those weather maps and keep an eye on the birding radar and you never know what you might find yourself in the midst of.

Happy birding!

Jon Cefus
East Central Ohio Director, Ohio Ornithological Society




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