Things were icy & cold at these two wild areas southeast of Columbus this morning, but this is not to say birdless.  The cold had iced over all but a few stretches of Blacklick Creek, and had frozen over every pond at Pick Ponds, so waterfowl were virtually nonexistent (a few Mallards & Black Ducks were in some of the remaining open patches).  But the dry cold had concentrated the remaining birds near the stream corridors where they could get drinks, and I wound up with a fair list highlighted by

Raptors - Cooper's Hawks at every stop, conspicuous both for their displays and relentless hunting.  Pick Ponds also had quite a few Red-tails taking advantage of a boom in vole numbers ( I saw many snow tunnels and even 2-3 of the little brown flashes); there was even a juvenile Red-shouldered there that was hunting along the edges of tiny streams, presumably waiting to pounce when a small creature came for a drink.

Woodpeckers - lots of Downies & Red-bellies calling and even drumming, along with a few Hairies and Flickers.

Wrens, Creepers - Carolina Wrens at every stop, often 2-3, so the snow & cold don't seem to be stressing them too much.  Strangely, creepers were few, with only 1 at Portmann Park, and Golden-crowned Kinglets were entirely absent.

Sparrows - many Song Sparrows and White-throats were concentrated along the streams, but mixed in with them were goodies like E.Towhee ( 1 male at Reynoldsburg Civic Park), Tree Sparrows (several stops, with the largest flocks at the Chatterton Greenbelt), Field Sparrow (1 @ Chatterton), Swamp Sparrow (1 at Chatterton), and White-crowned (several stops)


Rob Thorn
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