SOrry about the late post.  The Columbus Audubon trip to these two MetroParks southeast of Columbus produced a healthy dose of early Spring arrivals, but nothing extraordinary.  Weather was gorgeous, with mild overcast giving way to warm & partly cloudy in the early afternoon.  Highlights included

Grebes - 5-6 Pied-billed & 2 Horned at Pickerington Ponds.  Thanks to Gene Stauffer for spotting the distant pair of Horned.
Dabbling Ducks - loads of Mallards were spiced up by 6-8 N.Shovelers and 10+ Gadwall, but teal were strangley absent.  With the high water at Pick Ponds, they could be feeding in almost any of the flooded fields.
Diving Ducks - 40+ Ring-necks, 100+ Lesser Scaup, and 6-8 Redhead, but numbers were probably higher for all of them due to many hiding in the obscured pools
Mergansers - Hooded both at Blacklick Woods and Pick Ponds, but no big numbers (and mostly paired)
Shorebirds - only Kildeer were apparent at Pick Ponds

Turkey Vultures - small numbers at nearly every location, either kettling up or drifting north
Cooper's Hawks - several were on territory at Blacklick, and we even watched a female busily re-working last year's nest (the easily-observed nest in the Ash-Maple picnic area).  Another female was a fly-by at the Wood Duck picnic area at Pick Ponds
Red-tails - pairs at several areas, both at Blacklick Woods and Pick Ponds
Osprey - yes, the pair is definitely hanging around the Arrowhead Marsh platform in Pick Ponds.
Great Horned Owl - nest with 2 large furry owlets, in amongst the heron colony at Ellis Lake.  This nest was noted by naturalist Scott Felker several weeks ago, and is easily seen with a scope from the Wright Road parking lot.

Sapsuckers - 2 along the trails at Blacklick Woods
Tree Swallows - many pairs squabbling over nest boxes and gourds at Pick Ponds
Brown Thrasher - a singing bird was regaling us at the Wood Duck picnic area of Pick Ponds
Kinglets,Creepers - many of both of these early migrants along the trails at Blacklick
E.Towhees - back in force, with 4-5 singing birds at Blacklick Woods
Sparrows - a Fox Sparrow is still hanging around the feeders at the Blacklick Woods Nature Center, while singing Chippings were at the Ash Grove Picnic area and at Pick Ponds.  Singing Field Sparrows were also at Pick Ponds, but no White-crowns could be found there.

Other signs of Spring were out as well:  several clumps of Harbinger-of-Spring were in full bloom along the Ash-Maple loop in Blacklick Woods, and small Brown Snakes were out sunning along the path, as were a few American Comma butterflies.  Pick Ponds had loads of calling amphibians, including Spring Peepers, W.Chorus Frogs, and Leopard Frogs.

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.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

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]