I spent a few hours this morning wandering the parks along the western edge of this Columbus suburb looking for winter birds.  I stopped at Glacier Ridge MetroPark, Trabue Nature Preserve, and Avery & Darree Fields Parks.  All have woodlots, but Glacier Ridge & Darree Fields are beyond the suburban fringe, while the other 2 parks are sqaurely surrounded by suburban yards now.  With an inch of snow and the cold wind, the landscape looked winter-like, and the birding was like-wise slow.  Notables included:

Barred Owl - the Glacier Ridge bird was back on his Beech perch along the Multi-use Trail.  Take the paved trail west from the north parking lot to where it makes a T with the Multi-use Trail, turn right (north) and walk into the woodlot.  As the trail turns to run past a small scrub swamp in the middle of the woodlot, look for the bird perched on a Beech snag on the left that is completely broken off about 12 - 15 feet up.  Look carefully as the bird blends in very well.

Kildeer - 1 bird was piping forlornly in the middle of a snow-covered field at Darree.  It's the third I've had in 5 days (1 in Columbus 12/17, 2 in Westerville 12/19)

Redwing - 1 was flying south over Darree, perhaps the last I'll see this winter.  Dick Miller mentioned that a big roost had been found down near Pickerington lately, but no telling if they'll stick around in this cold weather.

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