I visited this south Columbus Park for several hours this morning, focusing on 3 of its best 'migrant traps': Heron Pond, Turtle Pond(Bixby Access), and the Groveport Blacklick Bikepath (GBBP). There was quite a bit of activity, but nothing terribly unusual. Highlights included:
Raptors - Turkey Vultures at all 3 spots, but no big #s. GBBP had a Sharp-shinned Hawk, while Bixby had a Cooper's.
Woodpeckers - apparent Flicker movement, with overflying birds at all 3 spots, including 3-4 at Heron Pond. A Pileated was calling at Bixby, where they are not unusual, but no sapsuckers was surprising here.
Thrushes - modest flocks of Robins (20-40 birds) feeding on honeysuckle berries at each of the locations. A late Brown Thrasher was also in the berries along GBBP. The berry crop looks spotty here, so it'll take a warm early winter to stretch it out to the Christmas Count.
Warblers, Kinglets - Yellow-rumped Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets were widespread, but numbers were rarely more than 3-4 per location.
Pipits, Larks - Steady trickle of pipits flying overhead to the south all morning, perhaps 3-4 at each location. Horned larks, however, were much less common, with only 2 for the entire morning.
Sparrows - many flocks of White-throats at every stop, and good numbers of Song Sparrows, but all other sparrow species were scarce. A Fox Sparrow was lurking around the Bixby trails.
Blackbirds - started slow, but picked up steam during the morning. GBBP, which was the last spot I hit, had 160+ redwings and 40+ grackles in small flocks. The other two spots had much fewer, but Heron Pond did have a single Rusty Blackbird.
Finches - many Goldfinches at each site, but only GBBP had a stray Pine Siskin.
______________________________________________________________________
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]
|