I had a few hours after the snow yesterday, and surveyed several parks near & in Westerville, a NE Columbus suburb.  I stopped at Orange Township Park, Lazelle Woods, and Heritage Park on my way home from work, and found 5 inches of fresh snow and problematic parking at nearly all of them.  Birding wasn't too bad, though, despite the fact that none of these parks has feeders.  The snow appeared to make many birds hyperactive, and many were gathered along stream edges.  Among those that were most noticeable:
Canada Geese - flocks were flying south almost steadily once the snow stopped.  One large flock of 200 birds had landed in the snow-covered field just north of Heritage.  I checked them for other species, but to no avail.

Downy Woodpeckers - most parks had more than their normal share of these little guys, and many of them were acting quite aggressive to each other.  Possibly the park residents were trying to ward off intruders.

Blue Jays - small flocks of 5-8 birds were everywhere, but I should note that most of these parks have oaks in them or nearby.  Still, it was surprising to see so many in such suburban habitat.

E.Bluebirds - small groups of 2-4 were at every park, often calling.  They're not winter residents at any of these parks.

Yellow-rumped Warblers - I had singles of this hardy warbler at each park, a rather unusual occurence here.  Perhaps they're programmed to seek out water once the snow starts

What was conspicuous by their near-absence were sparrows.  Aside from a few Juncos and the stray Song Sparrow here or there, very few sparrows were out.  The snow earlier in the month drove a lot of them south or to feeders, and this snow will probably do likewise.

______________________________________________________________________

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]