A quick early morning trip to Pickerington Ponds MetroPark (southeast of Columbus) failed to find either the Ross' Goose or Avocets, but still had plenty of interesting birds.  Waterlevel is low but holding at both Blue-wing Pond and Mallard marsh, while it is quite high at Ellis Pond.  Notables included:

Snow Geese - 2 different juveniles mixed in with a flock of 500 Canadas at Mallard Marsh.

Dabbling Ducks - lots of Mallards (not surprisingly), but also had fair numbers of Black Ducks, Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and Gadwalls

Diving Ducks - hardly any: 2 Ruddy Ducks were on Ellis Pond

Shorebirds - no avocets, but there were still 20+ Kildeer and 2 Dunlins; most of the Kildeer were at Ellis pond, which had very little shoreline.

Wren,Kinglets - 1 Winter Wren and 3+ each of Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets along the Meadowlark Trail was a surprise, as this trail has only a sliver of riparian woods amid all the fields.

Pipits - several flyovers, with 5 at Mallard Marsh and 2 at Ellis Pond

Sparrows - good #s, with 40+ White-throats, 25+ White-crowns, 30+ Songs, 5 Swamps, 15+ Fields, 3 Chipping, 3 Fox, and 3 E.Towhees in about 1.5 hours.  It was mild enough that I heard snatches of song from each of these species except the Swamp Sparrows.

Blackbirds - several modest flocks of Redwings, totaling 200+ birds, scattered between the northern and southern parking areas along Bowen Rd. No Grackles, which was surprising, or Rusties, which was not.

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