Blacklick Woods (in SE Columbus) is a very good migrant trap, largely because it's now ringed by dense suburban development. I followed much the same path as Irene & Manon on the 14th, focusing on the trails through the Woods (instead of the Multi-use Path), and found a similar list to theirs, with lots of temperate migrants. Highlights of a 2-hour hike included:
woodpeckers - large numbers of Downies (20) and sapsuckers (7) as well as a pair of courting Pileateds
flycatchers - Phoebes building nests at several of the picnic shelters, as well as at the Nature Center
Swallows - only Tree Swallows present, mostly squabbling over nest boxes
Nuthatches - still 1 Red-breasted coming to the Nature center feeders
Wrens - Carolina(3-4), House (1), and Winter (2) all along the woods trails
Kinglets & Gnatcatchers - Ruby-crowns (12) outnumbering Golden-crowns (6), with only a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (3)
Hermit Thrushes - 4+ in the more open understory areas of the forest
Warblers - 5-6 yellow-rumps scattered through the forest, while 1 Pine was singing near the Beech-Maple lodge
E.Towhee - a startling 12 over the morning, which is about triple the usual # here
Sparrows - large numbers of White-throats (55+) along with smaller numbers of Field (3), Chipping (5), Song (5), and Fox (1). A few Juncos were still around the Nature Center feeders.
Finches - plenty of goldfinches but no siskins. I did have 1 siskin later in the afternoon at Blendon Woods.
Clearly central Ohio hasn't yet received some of the early Neotropical migrants that are already beginning to appear in southern Ohio. It's interesting how some of these species (Vireos, Black&White Warblers, Ovenbirds, Bl-thr.Greens) make it to nesting territories in unglaciated areas long before [others of the same species are] migrating through central & northern Ohio.
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