I spent the last 2 mornings snooping through parks along this southeastern Franklin County stream, looking for late migrants and winter strays.  Yesterday I visited Reynoldsburg Civic park & Blacklick Woods, while today I was further downstream at 3-Creeks Park, where I visited the Groveport Blacklick Bikepath (GBBP) and the Confluence area.  Both days had cold but mostly dry weather.  The still water in ponds and lakes was pretty much frozen over, so waterfowl were scarce.  Notable landbirds included:

Woodpeckers - an influx of Hairy Woodpeckers, with singles at nearly every stop.  This is unusual here because none of these stops had extensive woodland (I didn't bird the main woods at Blacklick).  Flickers were also surprisingly common, as one might expect during the first big freeze.

Brown Creepers - very localized, with almost all of them (5) along the GBBP.

Wrens - Carolinas were abundant, with 3-5 at every stop; this freeze doesn't seem to be stressing them much.  No snow cover probably helps.  1 Winter Wren was along the GBBP.

Fruit-eaters - flocks of Robins were anywhere that had honeysuckle bushes with fruits, which was almost everywhere.  Cedar Waxwings were also present, but in lesser numbers.  No Hermit Thrushes or Catbirds, and only 2 Mockingbirds (at Reynoldsburg Civic and GBBP).

Kinglets,Warblers - still a few Golden-crowns lurking at several locations, as were Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Sparrows - White-throats, Juncos, and Songs were widepsread.  All of these, plus Fox and Tree Sparrows, were gracing the feeders at the Blacklick Nature Center.  Another Fox and Tree were along the GBBP.

Finches - plenty of the 'regular two' (House Finches and Goldfinches), but no siskins or Purple Finches.

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