I spent the morning looking for migrants at these SE Franklin County MetroParks, with some success. The cold N wind seems to have held up early neotropicals, but there were plenty of temperate migrants as compensation. I hiked around the Beech-Maple Trails and the other forest loops at Blacklick, then stopped at Portman Park before hitting several spots at Pick Ponds. Notables included:
Dabbling Ducks - 30+ N.Shovelers, 14+ Green-winged Teal, and 12 Blue-winged Teal at Pick Ponds signaled the onset of late dabbler movement. There were also 10-12 Gadwall there as well. Most of the action was in Arrowhead Marsh.
Diving Ducks - most were gone, with only 6 Ring-necks and 2 Bufflehead remaining at Pick Ponds
Raptors - not much other than pairs of Red-tails at several locations. The Pick Ponds Osprey were not around the platform today.
Other Waterbirds - 100+ Coots and 6-8 Pied-billed Grebes rounded out the waterbirds at Pick Ponds
Sapsuckers - fallout at Blacklick Woods, with 10+ scattered around the forest paths
Phoebe - 4+ at Blacklick Woods, and singles everywhere else
Swallows - Tree Swallows were widespread, but the only Rough-wings were at Pick Ponds
Brown Creeper - 2 late birds were in the forest at Blacklick Woods
House Wren - my FOS bird was singing near Ashton Pond at Blacklick Woods
Kinglets - 4 each of Ruby- and Golden-crowned along the Blacklick Woods trails, only a few elsewhere
Warblers - lots (25-30) of Yellow-rumps at Blacklick Woods, few elsewhere. The only other warbler was a Yellow-throated at Portman
Towhees - lots, with 5-6 at Blacklick, and 1-3 at every other stop
Sparrows - Chipping and Field were widespread and common. A few White-throats were at Blacklick Woods and at Portmann, and a pair of White-crowns continue to hang around the Wood Duck picnic area feeder
Blackbirds - a Rusty was still ahgning around the vernal pools at Blacklcik Woods, doing what they like to do: wading around the edge of the pools. Redwings were plentiful at Pick Ponds, while Cowbirds were plentiful just about everywhere.
Finches - 2 Purple Finches were singing at the north end of the Beech-Maple loop in Blacklick, one of my few records this Spring around Columbus
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