A rainy trip to the Whittier-Scioto MetroPark and several nearby areas this morning produced a fair list of birds.  The warming temperatures thawed out many of the surrounding quarries, so waterfowl were spread out.  Good honeysuckle berry crops at several points along the river attracted good swarms of Robins and other fruit-eaters.  Highlights included:

Herons - Great Blues at every stop, including 6 along the river at Berliner Park (I didn't visit Anderson Quarry, where many more often roost).  6 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS have returned to their favored roost just SW of the footbridge across the Olentangy River near Ohio Stadium.

Dabbling Ducks - surprisingly scarce, probably because they now had many pubble to visit.  The only unusual species was a pair of Wood Ducks at Berliner Park.

Diving Ducks - no traditional divers, but many Hooded Mergansers, found at every stop; their high was a nice flock of 75 at Whittier.

Other Waterfowl - pairs of Pied-billed grebes were at 3 different locations (Whittier, Hart Rd quarry, Marble Cliff).  A single Cormorant was still hanging around the Greenlawn dam at the south edge of Whittier.

Raptors - little other than a pair of Cooper's Hawks terrorizing pigeons at Berliner and a Red-tail sitting stolidly in the rain along the Olentangy River.

Gulls - flocks of Ring-billed gulls everywhere, but none bigger than 40 birds. A single juvenile Herring Gull was with the flock at Whittier.

Kingfishers - 1-2 at every stop, they appear to have been pushed into this area over the past few frozen days.

Thrushes - Robins were the the common bird of the morning, with flocks at nearly every stop.  Biggest were 300+ birds chowing down on a good crop of Honeysuckle berries along the Whittier bikepath.  This flock should only grow bigger over the coming weeks as other areas are stripped of their berries.  Nothing other than waxwings and starlings was with this flock, but a smaller flock along the Marble Cliff bikepath contained 2 Hermit Thrushes.

Sparrows - nothing out of the ordinary, as small flocks of White-throats were in the bushes at most stops.  Juncos were also widespread, but nowhere numbering more than 5-6.

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