Burnet Woods

This 90 acre city park has a diverse flora and it attracts many migrant birds in the spring and fall. Well over 150 species of birds have been found in the park.


Since 1986 researchers have made daily census visits to the park during spring migration, plotting the location of each migrant detected. We use this data to study such questions as "How does weather affect the behavior or transient migrants?" "Do migrants interact?" and "What determines where in the park migrants are found?"


Distribution of migrants in the park

Recently I've been playing around estimating the Distribution of species in the park and looking at the relationships between the distributions of different species

Here are some prelminary maps that indicate the overall distribution of spring migrants in the park.

  1. Density of all sightings of migrants April/May 1990.
  2. Density of all sightings of migrants April/May 1991.
  3. Locations of all sightings of migrants April/May 1992.

With the data base of sightings, we can do interesting things like compare the distribution of sightings of thrushes in 1990 to the overall distribution of migrants from that year. A composite of all the thrush data from the censuses will tell you exactly where to find a GCTH on the Saturday morning before Mother's Day.


Seasonal changes in abundance

Some days there are several observers censusing in the park. To estimate the abundance of each species we take the largest number recorded by any observer. If two observers found different individuals and had the same count, this would under estimate the abundance by a factor of two. In these plots, the time scale is in days with 1= April 1. You can see a plot of the estimated total number of migrants, the number of Yellow-rumped Warblers or the number of Swainsons Thrushes for the years 1990-1993. The diversity index of warbler species is defined as sum(- p_i log(p_i)), where p_i is the fraction of all the warblers observed that belong to the i-th species. The index is largest when there are equal numbers of representatives of many species.

Birders Guide

If you're primarily interested in watching spring migrants in the park, here's a few points to consider:

  1. To reach the park from far away, take the Hopple Street exit off I75 and drive east (up hill on M.L. King Drive) through 3 stop lights. At the top of the hill is another light at Clifton Ave. The park is on the north east corner of the intersection of King and Clifton. To park your car on weekdays, turn left on Clifton and right at the third stop light (onto Jefferson Ave). The first right off Jefferson leads into Burnet Woods and you can park along this road.
  2. Once you're there ... you don't need instructions. The park is only about 90 acres and you can walk everywhere on well marked (or at least obvious) trails. See the above maps for information on the distribution of birds in the park.
  3. The earliest transient migrants are Woodcock and a variety of sparrows. Fox Sparrows peak sometime in the last two weeks of March. Daily counts of 6 Fox Sparrows are not unusual. Expect Eastern Towhee and Brown Thrashers as well.
  4. Golden-crowned Kinglets generally arrive within a week of April 1st. Daily counts as high as 25 or 30 kinglets are typical during the peak of their migration.
  5. From about the 10th of April, finding any bird is possible in the park. Because it is so near the its southern border, the park is a good place to set "earliest" arrival date records for migrants in Ohio.
  6. The first huge waves of migrants can be expected around the last week of April or the first week in May. Finding hundreds of warblers and a total of 65-75 species in a morning is usually possible during one of these waves. Look for mornings after the arrival of a low front. Warm temperatures, low clouds, scattered showers, and SE winds are good indicators that there will be lots of birds.
  7. Worm-eating Warblers and Golden-winged Warblers, two of the most sought after species, occur in the park every spring but may not be present every day. So multiple visits may be necessary to locate these birds. On the average (1990-1992) there were 7 days each spring with WEWA's and 4 with GWWA's in the park.
  8. Many unusual birds have been found in the park. The best time to look for these vagrant and "out of habitat" birds is very early on days when a storm has moved through Cincinnati just before sun rise. Species recorded in the park under these conditions include Blue Grosbeak, Sedge Wren, Bewicks Wren, Clay-colored Sparrow, American Bittern, and Western Kingbird. Please notify others ASAP when you detect unusual species in the park.
  9. Except for the "free parking" zone by the Trailside Museum, a permit from the city is required to park along the streets in the Burnet Woods on weekdays.
  10. On weekday mornings traffic noise can be unpleasant unless you get to the park before the height of rush hour or can stay until after the traffic is reduced. Sun rise is the best.

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