I used a few hours to check sites along this corridor north of Columbus to look for rain-grounded migrants. I started at the dam & visitors center of AlumCreek Lake, then drove down to hike the Thomas Trail and Spring Creek Trail of Sharon Woods. Although the weather was surprisingly cold & windy, there was a modest fallout of mixed temperate and neotropical migrants, and even some interesting waterfowl. Notables included:
Waterfowl - stragglers included a Bufflehead pair & Ruddy Duck on Shrock Lake in SharonWoods, as well as 2 Red-br.Mergansers off the AlumCreekLake dam.
Raptors - not much despite the wind. A juvenile (third-year) Bald Eagle was soaring over the beach at AlumCreekLake, while 10+ Turkey Vultures were along the dam there.
Terns - the AlumCreekLake beach held a small flock of gulls that included 3 Caspian Terns & 1 Forster's along with a small pile of Ring-billed & Bonapartes Gulls
Swallows - loads of Tree, Barn, & Rough-wings foraging over the open water of both ALumCreekLake and ShrockLake. The former site also had a handful of Cliff Swallows.
Wrens,Creeper - only 1 House Wren (around the ACL Visitor's Center) was found. A single BrownCreeper remained along the Spring Creek Trail
Kinglets,Gnatcatchers - numbers much lower than last week, with only 2-3 Ruby-crowns at each site and the only Golden-crown was foraging along the SpringCreekTrail. Gnatcatchers were also low, although 3 were in the windless areas along the SpringCreek Trail
Thrushes,Mimids - at least 2 Hermits along the SpringCreek Trail. E.Bluebird pairs around boxes at both parks. Brown Thrashers were singing at the ACL Visitor's Center and the Sharon Woods SpringCreek Trail
Warblers - decent total given the weather; included
BLUE-WINGED - 1 male foraging along the Thomas Trail in Sharon Woods,
CERULEAN - a gorgeous male foraging low along the Thomas Trail, at times even on the ground!
Yellow (1 singing around the meadows of the ACL Visitor's Center)
Black-thr.Green - 2 foraging along SpringCreekTrail
Yellow-rumped Warblers - 3-4 at ACL, 6+ at SharonWoods
PRAIRIE WARBLER - a very cooperative male singing in the wood at the west end of the Alum Creek Lake dam
Palm - 1 along the eastern edge of Shrock Lake in Sharon Woods
OVENBIRD - 1 singing along the Spring Creek Trail
Sparrows - small flocks of Chipping at both sites, as well as widespread singing Field Sparrows. White-throated were few at AlumCreek Lake, but a migrant flock of 25-30 was grounded along the Thomas Trail at Sharon Woods
Icterids - no orioles yet, but lots of grackles & redwings at both sites. An E.Meadowlark was singing in the grassy areas behind the beach at AlumCreekLake
Pine Siskins - 2 very cooperative birds were foraging low in the alders along the east side of Shrock Lake. These are the second record I've had in 2 days (2 were along RockyFork Creek yesterday), so they seem to be on the move.
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