Question: Where are these Avocets going?

Three of seven American Avocets (hanging out with Ring-billed Gulls) at the inland beach at Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio, on April 15, 2012. Photo by Kenn Kaufman.

Mid-April:  Yesterday while Ethan Kistler and I were on the hawk tower at Magee, he got a call from Sherrie Duris, who was over at Maumee Bay -- looking at 7 American Avocets.  These snazzy relatives of the sandpipers are generally rare in Ohio, so we couldn't resist running over to the park to look at them.

It's quite possible to go through a year of birding in Ohio without seeing any avocets at all.  But when they're seen -- and especially when they're seen in spring, I think -- they often occur in flocks, not as singles. 

This is mainly a western species.  It can be abundant on the Pacific Coast and on wetlands in the interior of the west.  It may nest as far east as the Dakotas and western Minnesota, and fairly small numbers spend the winter as far east as Florida and South Carolina.  But when I draw a line from any point in the winter range to any point in the breeding range, Ohio is not along that line.  American Avocets that show up here are not taking the most direct route.  Are they just wind-drifted off course, in flocks, every spring?  Or is there something else going on? 

Insight: First Palm

Okay, I know, it's a terrible photo. This was a record shot, for documentation, and it was so freaking cold that my hands were shaking!  Photo by Kenn Kaufman.

April 10:  Among the earliest warblers to come through n.w. Ohio in spring is the Palm Warbler.  Their peak numbers occur in late April and the first few days of May, but we can hope to see our first one before mid-April if we get out enough.

Today I found my first Palm Warbler of the season, but it was notable in another way: it was of the eastern subspecies, the "Yellow" Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum hypochrysea).  These brightly colored birds nest mainly in eastern Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, and Maine, and they migrate north mostly along the Atlantic Coast, so they are rare in Ohio.  The vast majority of the birds that pass through here are "Western" Palm Warblers (Setophaga palmarum palmarum), which nest all the way from western Quebec to the edge of the Canadian Rockies.

"Yellow" Palms have been documented to migrate north earlier in spring than "Western" Palms, so perhaps it is not surprising that the first one to show up here would be a stray from this population.