With only a little free time each morning, I hiked around riparian parkland along Alum Creek and Big Walnut Creek.  Alum was done yesterday and included Innis Park & Tanager Woods, while I visited Woodside Green, Academy, & Ridenour parks along Big Walnut today.  Despite the bitter cold, lots of birds were active, including some mild surprises:

waterfowl - 4 Gadwall were along Alum Creek at Tanager Woods.  They seem to be adapting to small creek environs locally, as several were reported from local creeks on the CBC. Could we be seeing the next 'mallard'?  They are fairly common urban ducks in parts of the Pacific Coast.

woodpeckers - many active, including some drumming.  It apparently doesn't take much of a change in day-length before many woodpeckers think Spring is on the way. Only Flickers seemed to have become scarcer, probably due to the lack of open, unfrozen ground.  Most unusual: 1 juvenile Sapsucker along Old Ridenour Rd in Gahanna

chickadees - unusually abundant at all parks.  Possibly they're moving into these parks to be close to water sources during these deep freezes.

Carolina Wrens - much more common then I was expecting.  Many of them were working the snow-free banks of the streams or around houses.  Several cold winters may have selected for 'smart' wrens that can find food under snowy conditions.

mockingbirds - singles were at Innis Park & Ridenour Park, firmly planted in berrybush tangles

E.Bluebirds - 3 were around Academy Park, a now common site for them in winter. Small flocks can now be found, with a little searching, all the way from the Airport north to past Blendon Woods, even in frigid weather.

Sparrows - hard-pressed by the extended snow-cover, they weren't too abundant at any site.  I probably saw more at feeders in neighboring yards than in the parks themselves.  Unusual: 1 Tree Sparrow at Tanager Woods, and 1 Swamp Sparrow at a pocket marsh in Academy Park.

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