Hundreds of species of unusual birds are on display throughout Ohio this month as they migrate north for the summer.
Those birds range from annual favorites, like the pine warbler, to unexpected treats that may never again grace Buckeye skies.
The height of the spring migration — known asThe Biggest Week in American Birding— began Friday.
Birders flock toward the shores of Lake Erie every spring for the event, but rare sightings can be found anywhere in the Buckeye State this spring, according to Jamey Emmert, avian education coordinator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.
'You never know what's going to show up'
Birds fly northward each spring along unmarked routes known as flyways. Two such paths, the Atlantic Flyway and the Mississippi Flyway, overlap above Ohio.
Of the nearly 2,000 species of birds that live in North America, 450 have been documented visiting the state.
Only about 200 of those 450 species live in Ohio all summer, which means the rest follow a flight plan that takes them through the state into Canada.
"You never know what's going to show up," Emmert said.
Since bird migration is generally triggered by day lengths, ornithologists expect to see each species about the same time every year.
When do different birds migrate in Ohio?
Waterfowl species are usually the first to begin the long journey north. Those flights depart in mid-March.
Shorebirds, like great blue herons and great egrets, tend to migrate throughout April.
"In early May,we see warblers and orioles and tanagers really starting to move through in large quantities," Emmert said.
The majority of birds that migrate through Ohio each spring will do so in May.
"Then in June, we see the stragglers," Emmert said.
Cuckoos are one of the most common species that tend to fly through Ohio in late spring and early summer.
"Any birds that you see in Ohio around July and August are very likely breeding birds that are nesting here," Emmert said. "By the end of August, the waterfowl and shore birds are getting ready to go back south again."
What birds can I see migrating in Ohio?
Many of the birds migrating through Ohio this May are common, albeit for only a couple weeks each year.
Some, like those in the warbler family, are similar to their cousins who nest in the Buckeye State.
"There's 38 species total of warblers that breed in North America," Emmert said. "Of those, 25 have been documented nesting in Ohio."
Ohio may only be a tiny blip on the map for some of them, like the blackpoll warbler — these tiny creatures fly nearly 2,000 miles every spring, from Argentina to Canada.
"They're one of the more long-distance athletes that we see coming through Ohio," Emmert said.
Of all the birds that fly north to Ohio each spring, scarlet tanagers could be considered the most recognizable.
"They havethis rich, almost eye-popping scarlet body with black wings," Emmert said. "That's the male. The female's kind of a pale yellow. And they are just stunning. Absolutely stunning."
Scarlet tanagers are her recommendation for new birders. She said they're a little smaller than robins, and even sound like a robin than might have a sore throat.
"You would think that being that bright scarlet color, they would just stand out like sore thumbs, and that's really far from the truth," Emmert said. "It's kind of amazing once the trees get leafed out how well they can blend in. That's usually how people find them is to look up in the treetops. They like big oaks or anywhere they can find big, healthy, mature trees."
What are the rarest birds found in Ohio?
Some birds have been found in Ohio inexplicably.
One such sighting was a brambling, which is in the finch family.
"This is where things get kind of hairy," Emmert said. "This is a bird that calls Europe and Asia home, and sometimes they're reported in Alaska."
A few years ago, a brambling was reported in Ohio in Medina County.
"Instantly a lot of people were like, wait a second, does this sound right?" Emmert said. "Why is a bird clear from Eurasia winding up in Ohio, especially if there's not been a recent storm to justify why this bird would have gotten blown so far off course?"
Birds have been brought to the United States both legally and illegally. Sometimes those birds escape into a world they never should have seen.
Hurricanes and other storms can also blow birds off track during their migrations.
"Birds can get confused," Emmert said. "Something inside their brains may not be wired right."
Another odd sight came in Stark County during the COVID pandemic in 2020 when birders noticed a brown booby, a seabird from South America, wading around in Nimisila Reservoir.
"People from all over the country — I mean, thousands of people — came to Nimisila Reservoir to see this bird," Emmert said. "They wanted to see it, knowing otherwise they may never see it in their lives."
The most avid of birders like to keep a list of ones they've seen, with a goal of someday checking off every species known worldwide.
Sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans making comeback in Ohio
After a few years, birders may realize that what once were rare gems are now commonplace.
That's happened in Ohio over the past two decades.
"You'd be hard pressed 20 years ago to find a sandhill crane in Ohio," Emmert said. "To spot one would have been something so exciting you’d want to call all your friends and family and tell them about it."
Thanks to restorative efforts, sandhill cranes are often reported at Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area in Wayne and Holmes counties, as well as Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ottawa County.
"Trumpeter swans is another good example," Emmert said. "They were just delisted from threatened list. It’s a very exciting time to be able to say that the trumpeter swan population in Ohio is doing exceptionally well — 30 years ago, it would have been super exciting to see one, and now you can go to any high-quality waterway or marsh and have a likelihood of seeing a pair of trumpeter swans. So that's really good stuff."
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