Between leading a Grange Center Audubon birdwalk and hiking around nearby areas before and after the walk, I spent 3 hours around this downtown Columbus park area this morning.  Migrants were about what you might expect for this time of year, with a few surprises thrown in.  Notables included:

Herons - 8 Great Egrets continue to lounge in the river backwater right next to the Audubon Center, while an equal number of Great Blue Herons were scattered all along the river.

Waterfowl - 30+ cormorants were mostly perched in a dead snag across from the boat ramp, while small groups of Mallards & Black Ducks were in the backwater closer to the Grange Center.  A few Wood Ducks were in the more sheltered areas of the river in Berliner Park.

Raptors - several Cooper's Hawks, a Red-tailed hawk, and a Kestrel...and this was just from around the Grange Center.  Add in a flock of 17 Turkey Vultures, and finish the morning with a juvenile Bald eagle soaring above the Boat ramp, and it was a pretty good morning for raptors.

Gulls -  Ring-bills were on the mudspit off the boat ramp and flying back and forth along the river all morning.  Mixed in with them were 2 Herring Gulls and 4 Bonaparte's Gulls.

Forest Landbirds - several migrant flocks were along the bikepath, both in Berliner Park and along Whittier near the Grange Center.  Most common birds were Kinglets, with about 20+ each of Ruby-crowns and Golden-crowns.  Mixed in with them were quite a few chikadees, brown creepers, and Yellow-rumped warblers, along with a sapsucker and 3 different Redstarts.  Ground-level flocks of White-throated Sparrows were also common, with 1 Hermit Thrush, 2 Winter Wrens, and many Cardinals added in.

Field Landbirds - strong sparrow numbers, with good numbers of White-throated and Song sparrows, along with a few Field, Chipping, Swamp, and Lincoln's, mostly in the fields north of the Grange center.  A Phoebe was also flycatching along the edge of this field, but no evidence of Horned Larks or pipits yet.  These fields look like they have excellent potential as a field bird 'trap' over the next few months.

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