I spent a few hours hiking and biking around this sprawling park in south Columbus. It contains several riparian corridors and a few large floodplain forest patches, so can be a good migrant trap. It worked quite well this morning, though I had to dodge the runners in a large charity race along the trails. I visited the Confluence area, the Borrow Pits along the trail (near I-270) and the Groveport Blacklick Bikepath (GBBP). Thrushes were the big highlight, while warblers were once again in short supply. Notables included:
Herons- the borrow pits along I-270 are still strangely low in waders; I could only find 2 Great Blues and 2 Great Egrets there today.
Flycatchers - not much other than a few E.Wood Pewees.
Swallows - only Rough-wings (about 12), mostly near Blacklick Creek
Vireos - singing Yellow-throated and Warbling near the Borrow Pits in a riparian forest along Alum Creek.
Red-br.Nuthatch - another of these little vagrants was lurkind in the pine grove at the Confluence area.
Thrushes - good #s of Swainson's (20+), but also had 4 Gray-cheeked, 1 Veery, and 2 Wood Thrushes. Also had over-flying groups of E.Bluebirds at several areas.
Mimids - many Catbirds, especially along wood edges. Also had 2 Brown Thrashers along the powerline right-of-way along the eastern edge of the Confluence area. Strangely, no Mockingbirds around the Confluence entrance (usually a good location for them).
Warblers - not easy to find; the list included Tennessee (5), Parula (1 singing male), Black-thr.Green (2), Magnolia (3), Cape May (2), Redstart (5), plus about 12+ unidentified birds.
Blackbirds - several large flocks of Redwings, but no grackles. A young Cowbird was along the GBBP.
Other migrants - Rose-br.grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings at several locations, but no Tanagers or Orioles noted.
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|