I hit several parks and wild areas in a circuit around the west side of Columbus this morning, including Marble Cliff, Griggs Dam, Shrum Mound Quarry, Prairie Lincoln Woods, and Big Run Park.  With fewer woodlots in the area, I was hoping to concentrate fallout migrants; this did happen to some extent, but there just weren't lots of new migrants. The Shrum Mound Quarry waterbird colony is going strong, but the quarry is being used as a clay dump so the future of this colony does not look good.  Highlights included:

Cormorants - small numbers were all along the Scioto River, while the colony at Shrum Mound included 8-10 nests
Common Loons - 4 were on Watermark Lake
Great Egret - there appeared to be 10-12 nests at the Shrum Mound colony, which seems to be a big jump in numbers
Great Blue Herons - also up and down the river, with perhaps 15-16 active nests at Shrum Mound
Cooper's Hawks - birds were on patrol at both Prairie Lincoln Woods and Big Run woods, spots were they have nested recently
Turkey Vultures - no great #s, but still 10 hanging around Griggs Dam
Flycatchers - 1 Phoebe was along the Scioto River, while another was at Big Run
Swallows - big day for Rough-wings, with 150+ scattered in sheltered areas along the Scioto; 110+ were below Griggs Dam
Vireos - Warblings were at several spots along the river, while Prairie Lincoln Woods had Blue-headed and Big Run had Red-eyed
Kinglets - steady #s of Ruby-crowns all morning, with 5 below Griggs Dam the top number
Thrushes - no obvious migrants other than Robins, but a pair of E.Bluebirds at Big Run was a pleasant surprise
Mimids - Catbirds were at every stop, but only Big Run had a singing Brown Thrasher
Warblers - lots of Yellow-rumps, with 25+ below Griggs Dam and another 30 at Big Run.  Other species included Pine (Marble Cliff), Black&White (Prairie Lincoln), Black-thr,Green (several spots), Blue-winged (FOS at Griggs), Parula (2 below Griggs dam), Yellow-throated (many locations), and Palm (1 below Griggs dam)
Sparrows - still lots of small flocks of White-throateds at many locations
Scarlet tanager - 1 beautiful male was in the woods at Big Run Park
Baltimore Orioles - 2 were in the riparian strip below Griggs dam

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