Diana's Mother's Day request was an early afternoon hike at this hilly MetroPark south of Lancaster, and who was I to refuse?  We both brought along binos, and were rewarded with a great afternoon.  Spring migration here is often different from the forested 'islands' of parks around Columbus.  Quite a few of the early wave neotropical migrants are already on territory here, but late wave birds haven't put in much of an appearance yet.  Notables on a 2 hour hike along the Fern Trail - Hemlock Trail - Creekside Trail loop included:

Red-shouldered Hawks - a calling pair circling above Starner Road picnic area
Wild Turkey - 1 flew across the main road near the Hemlock Trail entrance.
Cuckoos - not a single bird or sound; they haven't arrived yet, despite a good crop of tent caterpillars
Flycatchers - also largely no-shows, with only 2 Wood Pewees and 2 calling Acadian Flycatchers.  They'll be much more common soon.

Vireos - more prominent, with 12+ Red-eyed, 2 Yellow-throated, 1 very territorial Blue-headed along the Hemlock Trail, and a White-eyed at the Fern Trail parking area

Kinglets,Gnatcatchers - still 2-3 Ruby-crowns.  Not very many gnatcatchers (6-8) compared to the droves closer to Columbus

Thrushes - 6+ singing Wood Thrushes and 2 calling Swainson's.  Veeries & Hermits not really on territory yet, though we did hear one Hermit in quiet subsong along the Hemlock Trail

Mimids - lots of Catbirds (12+) singing along Creekside Meadows Trail (CMT).  No Thrashers, or at least none singing.

Warblers - great day, even though some later arrivals haven't shown up yet.  Totals included
 Yellow Warblers - 3, all along Creekside Meadows Trail
 Parula Warblers - 2 along CMT, with one very curious individual around the Starner Road bridge
 Cerulean - 2 singing along CMT; one at mouth of Hemlock Trail afforded good views
 Worm-eating - 1 singing along the Fern Trail
 Nashville - 6+ along the entire loop, far less than the numbers around Columbus right now
 Tennessee - 2-3 , surprisingly mostly along the ridgetops
 Blue-winged - 1 singing around the Starner picnic area
 GOLDEN-WINGED - 1 singing around the Fern Trail parking area, both when we started and when we finished
 Magnolias - 5+, scattered in many locations
 Chesnut-sided - 4+, mostly in mature forest along the Fern Trail
 Black-thr.Blue - 1 singing along Fern Trail
 Black-thr.Green - 12+ including many birds skirmishing around hemlock groves, setting up territories
 Blackburnian - 4+ singing at several different locations; likely migrants, though a few breed nearby
 Yellow-throated - 2 singing along CMT, in obvious breeding habitat (ie. sycamores)
 Yellow-rumped - 8+ scattered in many locations, nowhere common
 Pine - 1 singing along ridge where Ferm, Hemlock, and Cemetery Ridge trails intersect
 Prairie - 3 singing along ridgetop meadows; more common than I recall here (& in line with uptick in migrant #s)
 Black&White - 6 singing in mature woods along Fern & Hemlock trails
 Am.Redstart - 3 singing in riparian areas along CMT; none on hills or in ravines
 Ovenbirds - 14+ along trails away from riparian areas, almost exclusively in mature broadleaf forest
 La.Waterthrush - 4 along watercourses, including a very defensive bird along the Hemlock trail stream
 Com.Yellowthroat - 6+ along the CMT, favoring the wet meadow edges
 Hooded - 20+ singing along trails in nearly every forested habitat
     No Kentuckies, Canadas, Wilson's, Bay-breasted, or Chats (all late starters here)

Tanagers - 5-6 Scarlets singing in mature broadleaf forest.  No Summers, but little good habitat for them along these trails.

Buntings,Grosbeaks - 6+ Indigo Buntings along edges of meadows both along Clear Creek and at ridgetops.  Only 3 Rose-br.Grosbeaks, despite being in great habitat most of the time.

Sparrows - plenty of singing Chipping and Fields, the former mostly in streamside fields, the latter on ridgetop meadows.  Few White-throateds (mostly along CMT) and no White-crowns

Orioles - 4+ Baltimores, all along the CMT.  No Orchards, but we didn't exhaustively check the fields east of Starner.

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