I spent the gloriously warm morning hunting for Red-headed Woodpeckers in woodlots of northeastern suburbs of Columbus.  Unlike much of Columbus and central Ohio, these uplands east of Big Walnut Creek still have many remnant oak woods.  Several often harbor winter-resident Red-headeds, which have become a rare bird hereabouts.  I surveyed 7 woodlots from Gahanna Woods on the southern edge up to Duncan Glen (along the eastern edge of Hoover Reservoir), including Jefferson Township Woods, Swickard Woods, and Blendon Woods, as well as several private woodlots.  Other woodpeckers were plentiful, but no Red-heads could be found despite a fair-to-good mast crop (acorns & beechnuts) at most stops.  Apparently, the weather may not be cold enough to push the non-migrant Red-headeds south from northern Ohio.  Highlights included Red-tailed Hawks lurking in several of the woodlots, trying to surprise the abundant squirrels taking advantage of the nice weather to be out and foraging.  !
 Also, many Downies, Red-bellies, and Flickers were out and noisy at most sites, and Hairies were at 4 of the woodlots.  Pileateds were at Blendon and Duncan Glen, and a sapsucker was working over some beech trees at Blendon.  Flocks of chickadees, titmice, & nuthatches were widespread, but I could find no interesting stragglers amongst them other than golden-crowned kinglets.


Rob Thorn
[log in to unmask]
EarthLink Revolves Around You.

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]