Where are the Hummingbirds?

By John Pogacnik, Biologist

How do we know when different species of birds will migrate? For beginning birders it is a bit of a mystery. Others know that a certain species will be here, but are not sure exactly when. Recently, I have heard people asking whether anyone has seen any ruby-throated hummingbirds yet. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating north, but are still south of Kentucky. Their average arrival date here in Northeast Ohio is usually the last week of April. Every year there are reports of a common nighthawk in March. Right now, nighthawks are even further south than the hummingbirds. What people are hearing are woodcocks doing their courtship. The call sounds a lot like a nighthawk. So how do we know when the birds are coming?

There are a number of resources available for birders to use to better understand migration. Other than binoculars, the two things every birder needs are a field guide and something to show a bird’s abundance, distribution and migration timing. This would tell you if a bird like a hummingbird could be here at this location on this date. Birds don’t read so there can be exceptions, but by knowing the bird is way out of range or shouldn’t be here on this date, you know that you should get a good look and properly document it. When I started out, I picked up a publication that utilized Donald J Borror’s “A Check List of the Birds of Ohio, with the Migration Dates for the Birds of Central Ohio.” It listed each bird along with the earliest and latest migration dates along with the average dates. The publication listed the birds in two-week intervals, March 1-15 and March 16-31. It told you what to expect each period. It was immensely helpful. The dates were for Central Ohio, but if you changed it to a week later for northern Ohio it was pretty accurate. It’s a bit outdated, 1950, but still is a good resource. Click here to download.

The Ohio Ornithological Society has put out an annotated checklist for Ohio birds. It is an excellent resource although it also is a bit outdated. They used to sell a more updated version, but I am not sure whether it is still available. This publication shows bar graphs of each bird’s distribution through the year as how common they are and notes on distribution in the state. It is something worth printing out and carrying with you. Most people have smart phones now. It is PDF file and is very easy to download onto your phone, that way you always have it with you when you are out in the field. Click here to download.

The Ohio Ornithological Society website is a good source for other information such as the current list of Ohio birds, a list of rare species that need to be documented and a list of birding sites in Ohio with maps and information about each site. It is an organization that does a lot of good work and is well worth joining.
If you want a bit more information on Ohio birds, Bruce Peterjohn’s “Birds of Ohio: With Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas Maps” is worthwhile, if you can find it. It has a lot of more in-depth information on the history of each species in Ohio. One of the interesting things about all of these publications is seeing the changes in bird populations through time. Birds like Bachman's sparrow and Bewick’s wren were once regular breeding birds in Ohio. It has now been many years since either have been found in Ohio; while others, such as fish crows, first found in 2012 are now regular breeders in parts of Ohio. Some southern species have been slowly moving north through the state like pine and yellow-throated warblers. It is also interesting to see how many species are migrating earlier. Many of the dates Borror used in 1950 for Central Ohio can now be used for the northern part of the state.

This kind of information will make you a more skilled birder. It will help you to know when and where to look for birds. If you’re interested in seeing a certain species, it will tell you when they are here and where to go to see them. You will also know we have to wait just a while longer for the hummingbirds to get here.

The birding forecast

The weather has not really been cooperating. We have had some south winds, but they have been accompanied by clouds and rain at times. There have been songbirds moving, but few hawks. During the cloudy weather there have been a lot of vultures moving. Vultures prefer a sunny day, but seem more willing to move even when it’s cloudy. The songbird migration has picked up with yellow-bellied sapsuckers, northern flickers, tree swallows, kinglets, creepers, winter wrens, fox sparrows and eastern towhees showing up in increasing numbers. Early April is the best time to see migrating flickers. Along the lake at areas such as Lake Erie Bluffs it is sometimes possible to see more than a hundred flickers in a day.

The weather for the next few days does not look favorable for migration. The next south winds may be during the middle of next week. Right now they are predicting temperatures to only get into the 50s. There will be migration, but right now it does not look like any major movements. We still have not had great weather for migrating hawks. Southwest winds and sunshine could bring a big movement.

Golden-crowned kinglet

Bird sightings

Over the past week there have been a few days of migration, although it has been cloudy on all of the days with south winds. March 26 saw a good migration of vultures along the lake with more than 1,000 birds counted. Smaller numbers moved Friday and Monday. Very few hawks moved any of the three days. Golden-crowned kinglets, eastern towhees, tree swallows and other songbirds are showing up in larger numbers.

A northern shrike was seen at Lake Erie Bluffs on Monday. It was only seen that one day. A pair of surf scoters were seen flying by the bluffs on Monday also. Red-breasted mergansers are the most common duck on the lake right now. It is a good time to check each flock carefully as the scoters were flying with them.

Four fish crows were seen and heard on March 24. Fish crows are a recent addition to Ohio’s birds. The first accepted Ohio record was of breeding birds in Shaker Heights in 2012. Since that time, they have returned annually to that area and migrating birds have been occasionally seen along the lake in Northeast Ohio. They look very similar to the American crow, but are smaller and have some very minor differences in their outer wingtips. The key to identifying them is by their call. Their call is a very nasal “carr.” Fortunately, crows are often vocal when flying by. During the breeding season young American crows can give a similar call, but in spring migration it is fish crows that are giving the nasal call. It’s always worthwhile to listen to migrating crows along the lake.

Visit Birding in Lake Metroparks for more information.

Northern Flicker