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October 2007

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From:
rob thorn <[log in to unmask]>
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rob thorn <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:35:19 -0400
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I spent part of the morning looking for migrant ducks & landbirds at this wetland complex SE of Columbus.  Dabbling ducks have arrived in force, but diving ducks are still largely absent.  Landbirds featured good numbers of temperate migrants - Robins, kinglets, blackbirds, and LOTS of sparrows.  Highlights included

Herons - surprisingly few, with only 5 Great Blues and 1 Great Egret

Dabblers - all of the regulars, including Mallard, Black, Wood, both Teals, Shovelers, Gadwalls, AmericanWigeon, and Pintail.  Only Mallards and Green-winged Teals were present in large numbers.  Wood Duck marsh was the best spot, as recent rains have re-flooded it, and the ducks were shoulder-to-shoulder in it, scrambling for food items.

Divers - only a small flock of Lesser Scaup were on Ellis Pond

Other waterfowl - no cormorants yet, but there were 4-5 Pied-billed Grebes and a flock of 60+ Coots in Teal Pond.

Raptors - good variety, with Turkey Vultures most common (18+), but also seeing Sharp-shinned, Coopers, N.harrier, Red-tails, and Kestrel.

Shorebirds - hardly any, with a few Kildeer and 8-9 Greater Yellowlegs.  No Snipe, which was surprising given the wet areas I visited.  Many of the areas were only 'superficially wet', being flooded by the recent rain but still having hard bottoms (I sloshed across several wetlands that would've mired me after a few weeks of wet weather.)

Sparrows - good numbers of many migrants, including Savannah (12), Field (24+), Song (50+), Swamp (24+), Lincolns (10+), White-crowned (50+), and White-throated (60+).  I also had a Fox Sparrow right around the Wood Duck parking area.  I looked for rarer Ammodramus sparrows in several areas, but most of the marshy areas had been so dry this Summer that smartweeds had been replaced by grasses.

Blackbirds - sizeable flocks of Redwings at most stops, mostly females & juveniles.  Smaller numbers of grackles and cowbirds, but I couldn't find any Rusties yet.

Other landbirds - small flocks of Robins at most spots, but few other diurnal migrants (waxwings, jays, pipits, etc.).  Yellow-rumped warblers were widepsread, and there were also single Palm warblers at several locations, including the headquarters and the Wood Duck pond parking area.

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