Howald was born in Switzerland in 1856, and died on Ma– about when phoebes return in spring. The mausoleum is the final resting place of Ferdinand Howald and family members. Both parents regularly attended to the nest. I visited back on May 14 and took the accompanying photo of an adult feeding the chicks. They always locate their nest on a ledge under the mausoleum’s portico. It has long been known as a birding hotspot.įor at least 50 years, phoebes have nested on the Howald mausoleum on the north side of the pond near the cemetery’s center. The sprawling 360-acre cemetery is Ohio’s second largest, and it contains great diversity of plant life. Information generated by banding has produced scads of information regarding migration route and timing, site fidelity, longevity and much more.Īn interesting local case of site fidelity and phoebes involves Green Lawn Cemetery on Columbus’ South Side. Since then, nearly 80 million birds have been banded in North America, resulting in millions of recovered bands. More: Want to see a bald eagle or other rare birds? Here are 6 places to bird watch in Columbus Two of the nestlings returned the following year. Audubon became curious as to whether the offspring also returned to his land and tied silver thread to the legs of the 1803 brood. A phoebe pair returned to his Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, property each spring to nest. Pioneer ornithologist John James Audubon was an early phoebe fan, and the bander of that phoebe 220 years ago. Because of the flycatchers’ adaptability to the hand of man, many people live in close association with the birds. Now, most of their nests are on building ledges, shed rafters, under bridges and the like. Pre-European settlement, phoebes sited their nests on rocky alcoves of cliffs, just inside caves, stone outcrops and occasionally in wooden debris.Īfter settlement, phoebes quickly took to suitable human structures. The subject was an endearing little flycatcher known as the eastern phoebe. The year that Ohio became a state, 1803, the first bird was banded in North America.

Columbus museum of art location