• Bruce Glick: Gone Birding

Run of rare birds have been keeping Ohio birders busy

• Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
• November 8, 2019
• 2161

November is always a good month for finding interesting birds in Ohio, but this year, late October started a run of rare birds.

Thanks to Kent Miller, I heard about a possible sharp-tailed sandpiper at Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. After several birders confirmed the identification, I headed east from my Indiana home. It only took about three hours to get to Killdeer Plains. Many birders had already arrived, and I think everybody was able to see the sharp-tailed sandpiper feeding and resting among other shorebirds.

This was a new life bird for me, which isn’t surprising because this little shorebird most likely began its life this summer in Siberia. The main wintering location for sharp-tailed sandpipers is Australia. A few of these young birds wander across North America, causing a lot of excitement wherever they are found.

The first Ohio record was a bird found at Gordon Park in Cleveland by Larry Rosche on Oct. 6, 1984. It was later banded and continued to be seen until Oct. 23. Our family was living in Bolivia at the time, a bit too far for me to get home to see the bird. A second sharp-tailed was seen briefly on Dec. 1-2, 1990, at Metzger Marsh but couldn’t be relocated.

The Killdeer Plains bird also stayed around for at least a week or more, making it possible for most birders to get there and see this extremely rare bird.

Meanwhile, things were heating up closer to home. Su Snyder and Sue Evanoff found a jaeger at Pleasant Hill Lake on Oct. 29. Any inland sighting of a jaeger in Ohio is big news, so it didn’t take long for birders to travel to the Ashland area to see the bird. Fortunately this was a very cooperative jaeger, providing great looks for observers. Kent Miller hailed a passing boat and found the occupants glad to take him out on the lake, where Kent took point-blank photos of the jaeger.

What followed was a great lesson in jaeger identification. With wonderful photos posted for all to see, opinions went back and forth for several days. Some very good birders changed their minds at least once. When all was said and done, it was decided the bird was a pomarine jaeger, but the identification was not easy. I wasn’t the only one that watched this with great interest. Thanks to Su and Sue for this excellent find. It pays to get out birding as often as possible.

The third rare bird to show up was a female vermilion flycatcher, found near Wooster along Prairie Lane on Oct. 25. This rarity also remained in the area and was still being seen as late as Nov. 2. Even though there have been other vermilion flycatchers in the area, they are quite rare and always a treat to see in Ohio, far from their normal range.

A cooperative American bittern was photographed and seen by a number of birders on Nov. 1 and 2. This was near Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, at the corner of Clayplant Road and Schwartzwalder Road. Rusty blackbirds were found at the same location.

Kent Miller and friends got excited when Tim Tanner posted a close-up photo of a northern shrike in North Canton, Stark County on Nov. 2. Next time I’ll write about the rufous hummingbird coming to the same feeders that another rufous visited some years ago. The month is indeed off to a good start.

Good birding!

Bruce Glick can be emailed at bglick2@gmail.com.