Bird Image Library Ohio Birder Resources Ohio Bird Records Committee Status in Ohio Spring migrants are rare - uncommon throughout Ohio. They are rare summer residents in the marshes of the Western Basin of Lake Erie in Ottawa and Lucas Counties and casual non-breeding summer visitors elsewhere. Autumn migrants are fairly common along Lake Erie east to Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and casual - uncommon elsewhere.
Numbers still appear to decline.
Peterjohn, B.G. et al. 1987. Abundance and Distribution of the Birds of Ohio. Common summer resident in Northern Ohio, and common spring and fall migrant in other parts of the State. I have never known it to breed here, however. The Black Tern is nowhere as common as the Common Tern, but it is not at all rare as a summer resident in the vicinity of Sandusky and Toledo.