Sorry for the late post, but our computer was being disinfected.  I spent Sunday morning roaming along the ALum Creek corridor in NE Columbus and adjoining Westerville looking for late landbird migrants and early waterfowl, as well as scouting for both the Hoover Reservoir & Columbus CBCs (Dec 16 & 17, in a shameless plug for both).  I basically surveyed along the Alum Creek bikeway from Tanager Woods north to Heritage Park in Westerville, with a side trip to nearby Sharon Woods MetroPark. Waterfowl haven't made much of an appearance here, but landbird migration is still dribbling along.  Highlights (or lowlights) included:

waterfowl - the area has many small ponds, but most were empty.  Only Shrock Lake in Sharon Woods MetroPark held anything, and it had only 6 Ruddy Ducks and a few Coot (or is it Coots?).

Raptors - surprisingly scant, with 2 Cooper's along the Alum Creek bikepath and no Turkey Vultures.  No Owls either along the bikepath or in Sharon Woods, which stands in contrast to Charlie Bombaci's good owl day around Hoover earlier in the week.

Woodpeckers - no migrant sapsuckers or Red-headeds, but 6-7 Red-bellies were enjoying a good acorn crop in the oak woods southwest of Shrock Lake in Sharon Woods Park.

Corvids - surprisingly, Blue Jays still seem to be filtering through.  Every site had some, and the above-mentioned oak woods had 25+.  Perhaps in good acorn years like this one, their migration is much more protracted.

Wrens, Creepers - abundant Carolina Wrens along the bikepath, but only 1 Winter (at Tanager Woods).  Brown Creepers at several sites, but nowhere in noticeable numbers.

Kinglets - still a few Ruby-crowns along the bikepath, but Golden-crowns were dominant in most spots now, even away from conifers.

Thrushes, Mimids - a few E.Bluebirds graced both the bikepath and Sharon Woods, and the latter site also had 2 Hermit Thrushes (in those same oak woods).  Best of the lot was a Brown Thrasher near Shrock Lake that was hoping to make a meal out of a woolly bear by attempting to wipe off the hairs all over the grass.

Waxwings - many of the 'whispering flocks' eating honeysuckle berries along the bikepath.  As long as the berries hold out, they'll probably be around in numbers.

Warblers - Yellow-rumps still abundant, especially near poison ivy patches, but no other warblers found.

Sparrows - most of the expected migrants, including flocks of White-throats along with scattered Chipping (Tanager Woods), Field (Sharon Woods), Swamp (several sites), and Fox (Heritage Park) sparrows.

Blackbirds - surprisingly few, with only a few flyover Redwings and grackles; most of them may already have moved through here.

Finches - good #s of goldfinches (40-50) in the alders along the east shore of Shrock Lake, as well as in the nearby prairie meadow.  This is a good spot to search for vagrant siskins & redpolls, but nothing unusual was found this morning.

Rob Thorn
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EarthLink Revolves Around You.

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