I spent a few hours this morning hiking aound these Columbus parks south of downtown searching for early migrants.   The river level was very high, flooding much of the riparian forest south of Greenlawn dam.  The fast water flow discouraged a lot of waterfowl, so their numbers were not very high.  Landbirds showed a pulse of early migrants, dominated by sparrows.  Highlights included

cormorants - 3 were in the bay off the boat launch

waterfowl - a few Mallards, Black Ducks, and Hooded Mergansers in backwaters along the river

woodpeckers - lots of Downies all along the river.  1 sapsucker was being chased by a Downy around the boat launch area

Phoebe - 1 was calling from the meadow west of the Grange Audubon center

E.Bluebird - 1 was singing near the boat launch turn-off

Towhee - at least 3 scattered along the bikepath
Tree Sparrow - a flock of 15-20 was at the north end of the fields north of the center
Song Sparrow - everywhere, with 35+ in 2 hours
Fox Sparrow - 3 along the bikepath south of the center
White-throated Sparrows - 60+ in 2 hours
Jonco - only a few along the bikepath

______________________________________________________________________

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]