Sternula antillarum
Rufus Haymond (Haymond 1856; Haymond 1869) reported that “a large flock” appeared on August 1, 1855, and remained along the Whitewater River and the Whitewater Canal “about a month or six weeks”. One of these birds was brought to him: “Some years ago I kept one (which had a broken wing) about six weeks. In that time it became very tame, learned its name, and would come when called. We fed it upon living fish, which it would swallow with amazing rapidity, except catfish, which required labor and time to dispose of. It died from having eaten a mackerel which had been placed in a basin to soak.” This account was cited approvingly by Frank Langdon (Langdon 1878) and Amos Butler (Butler 1897). Butler added that he had received a skull of one of these birds several years later.
Kemsies and Randle (1853) reported two other records, both from Todd’s Fork in Clinton County. One was taken alive by two boys on July 23, 19009, and a second was taken by F. O. Hazard of Wilmington College on May 5, 1946; that specimen is in the Ohio State Museum of Biodiversity collection, catalog Osum Birds B 7826.
Our only recent record comes from the Preble County portion of Action Lake, in Hueston Woods State Park, September 17 through 21, 2021. There are numerous eBird records, several with photographs, viewed from the Group Camp and the Marina. The Ohio Cardinal entry just says that there’s no doubt about the identity of several birds seen around the state, including this one (Caldwell 2021). Accepted by OBRC (Cefus 2022).
One at Clayton Road, Montgomery County September 23, 2021, was not accepted by OBRC – Whooping Crane was not ruled out – Cefus 2022.