I spent a few hours this morning visiting these wetland/greenspaces in SE Columbus, looking for migrants and waterbirds. Landbird migrants were in fair numbers, but shorebirds were definitely declining. highlights included:
Waterfowl - loads of mallards at both sites, but also had Black Ducks (Chatterton), Shovelers (PickP), and Green-winged teal (PickP). Pick Ponds also had some Pied-billed Grebes and Coots.
Herons - Pick Ponds had all the common ones, including 5 Great Egrets at teal POnd and 4 Black-cr. Night Herons at the same area
Shorebirds - none at Chatterton, where the water is too high. Pickerington Ponds has mudflats, but not very many shorebirds: 10 Kildeer, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 12 L.Yellowlegs, 4 Pectoral Spr, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher, and 1 Least Spr.
Raptors - Teal pond at Pick POnds had pairs of Kestrels, Red-tails, and Red-shouldered hawks
Woodpeckers - aside from theexpected residents, Chatterton also had obvious migrant red-headed woodpecker and Sapsucker
Flycatchers - Phoebes at all sites, but also found another late-ish Acadian at Chatterton
Swallows - 14+ Tree Swallows were foraging over Ellis Pond at Pick Ponds
Vireos - both Blue-headed and White-eyed were at Chatterton
Nuthatch,Kinglet - Chatterton also had a Red-br.Nuthatch (among many White-breasteds), as well as a Ruby-cr.Kinglet
Thrushes - all sites had a few Swainson's Thrushes
Mimids - Chatterton had 8+ Catbirds and 1 Brown Thrasher
Warblers - 9 species, nearly all seen at Chatterton, including Tennessee (3), Nashville, Parula, Bl.thr.Green, Yellow-rump (4), Magnolia (3), Cape May, Redstart, Ovenbird, Common yellowthroat
Grosbeaks,Buntings - 1 Rose-br.Grosbeak and 3+ Indigo Buntings graced Chatterton
Sparrows - along with the expected Field, Chipping, and Song, there were also a Savannah (Chatterton) and several Swamps (both sites)
Chatterton is a stretch of the Blacklick bikepath, localized between Brice Road and Retriever Lane. it can be accessed from these 2 raods or from Katy Lane (which is almost halfway between them). The greenblet here has 2 large flood-control marshes, along with a narrow strip of riparian woods flanked by many scrubby fields of goldenrod. It seems to function as a fairly good migrant funnel, especially since it's the only woods form a mile to the north and south.
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