I hunted around several 'migrant traps' in Columbus during my lunch hour.  Not having a big lake, we get creative around here looking for obstacles that might tire migrants or give them pause, and one such barrier is downtown Columbus.  Some of our best traps are just south of the concrete canyons (Greenlawn, Whittier), but less is known of the spots just north.  One of the first major green areas is the ravine of Glen Echo Park, which stretches west nearly all the way from I-71 to the OSU Wetlands and Tuttle Park.  I spent part of the hour in Glen Echo Park and the other part at the OSU Wetlands, with fairly good results.  Highlights were

Raptors - a resident Cooper's Hawk was flying over Glen Echo, while a visitng Barred Owl was lurking in the riparian woods at OSUW

Hummingbirds - Ruby-throats were at both sites, and a female was even gathering spiderwebs at GE

Flycatchers - several Pewees & Acadians at both sites, but GE also had 2 calling Leasts

Swallows - Tree swallows & Rough-wings were soaring around OSUW

Vireos - GE had singing Blue-headed (2), Yellow-throated, and Red-eyed (3), while OSUW had Red-eyed (3) & Warbling (4)

Wrens,Gantcatchers, Kinglets - numerous House Wrens(both) and gnatcatchers, along with 1 lingering Ruby-cr.Kinglet (GE)

Thrushes - GE had Wood (3), Swainson's (6) and Gray-cheeked (1), while OSUW had only 2 Swainsons

Mimids - singing Catbirds at both sites, while OSUW had a lurking Brown Thrasher

Warblers - a decent wave, with 10 species at GE and 8 at OSUW, including Nashville (GE), Tenn (several at both sites), Yellow (6 at OSUW), Black-thr.Blue (2 males at GE), Black-thr.Green 1 at GE, OSUW), Chesnut-sided (5 GE, 2 OSUW), Cape May (GE), Magnolia (4 GE), Yellow-rump (1 at GE), Blackburnian (1 GE), Blackpoll (1 singing OSUW),  Palm (1 OSUW), Yellow-thr. (1 OSUW), Yellowthroat (1 OSUW), MOURNING (1 sing OSUW).  And I didn't even get to see the Cerulean reported at OSUW by several observers.

Tanagers - several Scarlet Tanagers in the oaks at GE

Grosbeaks,Buntings - Rose-br.Grosbeaks at both sites, and Indigo Buntings common at both sites

Blackbirds, Orioles - Grackles, Redwings, Cowbirds at OSUW, while Baltimore Orioles were at both sites (1 at GE, 4 at OSUW), and a singing Orchard was at OSUW

Sparrows - Songs & Chipping on territories at both sites, while some lingering White-throats were at OSUW.  I missed reported Lincolns and White-crowns at OSUW.

Each site offered very different habitats (oak-crowned ravine at GE, riparian woods & wetland at OSUW) and it showed in the birdlists.  Glen Echo appeared to attract more of the standard migrant warblers, thrushes, tanagers, while OSUW was better for riparian & wetland  specialties.  An adventuresome hiker could even walk between the two and include Tuttle Park in the process, and probably boost the list further.  Just about anywhere would have yielded a nice list on a glorious day such as this.


Rob Thorn
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EarthLink Revolves Around You.

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