The continued unstable weather here in central Ohio gave me hope for better grounding of migrants, so I stretched my lunch 'hour' to these 2 traps in west-central Columbus.  Greenlawn cemetery is fairly well-known to this list - it's essentially a huge arboretum just southwest of downtown Columbus that is one of the premier traps of the area, partly due to its location, part due to its isolation.   Big Run is a Columbus Park about 3 miles WSW of the cemetery.  It is also an 'island' of habitat surrounded by a suburban/urban sea, but has more natural habitats than the cemetery, including a beautiful remnant oak forest.  Both sites had more activity than any of the other places I've been all week, but it would still be stretching it to say that it was a major fallout.   I sepnt roughly equal amounts of time ( a bit less than an hour) at each site, and  the comparison of the 2 was very interesting, so I'll contrast the major migrant groups:

Raptors - neither place had many, although resident Cooper's were seen at both

Woodpeckers - Flickers at both, with slightly more (4) at the cemetery.  Greenlawn also had a sapsucker.

Flycatchers - Pheobes at both, but Greenlawn had a calling Acadian (in the Ravine), while Big Run had a 'flock' of 3 E.Kingbirds

Swallows, Swifts - both had a few Barn Swallows & Chimney swifts

Vireos - Greenlawn had singing Blue-headed and White-eyed (both near the Pit), while Big Run had more of each.

Kinglets - good #s of Ruby -crowns at both , while only Greenlawn had Golden-crowns (2)

Thrushes - 3 Hermits @ Greenlawn contrast with 1 Hemit + 3 Wood at Big Run

Mimids - all 3 were at both sites, with greater numbers of Catbirds & thrashers at Big Run (which has successional field habitat)

Warblers - Yellow-rumps dominant at both sites, but Big Run also had large #s of Nashvilles(6) and a few Palms and Bl.thr.Greens.  Greenlawn had 2 singing Pine Warblers and an Ovenbird lurking in the Ravine.

Grosbeaks, Buntings, Tanagers - Big Run had a singing Scarlet Tanager in the oak woods, while Greenlawn had a calling male Rose-br.Grosbeak around the Pit.  Neither site had buntings.

Sparrows - both sites were awash in White-throateds, with 45+ at Big Run and 50+ at Greenlawn.  Towhees were also at each spot, with 6 at Big Run and 2 at Greenlawn.  Even Chipping & Field were shared between both sites, but were more common at Big Run.  No other sparrows could be pulled out (and Big Run is usually a very good sparrow trap).

The cumulative scorecard?  A toss-up.  Migration is struggling to gather steam here, but is still a lot of fun to experience.
The cumulative essence?  Greenlawn is a superb trap for tree-loving migrants, aided by the exceptional diversity of its trees; even conifer-loving birds (e.g. Pine Warbler, Golden-cr.Kinglet) can find favored niches here.  Big Run's oak forest is more natural, but less productive.  However, edge & field birds were more common at BigRun.  You can probably boost their numbers  at Greenlawn by visiting the small woodlands and pocket prairie just north of the cemetery entrance, which I didn't do this morning, but even this doesn't compare with the meadows & successional fields at Big Run or other parks.  Even on migration, these birds have already honed their habitat preferences, and will probably only abandon them when faced with the duress of a major barrier, such as Lake Erie up at Magee or Pt Pelee.


Rob Thorn
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