With the cold, then snow of the past 2 days, I focused on visiting 3 different Columbus-area greenbelts - Alum Creek yesterday, Scioto River gorge in Dublin this morning, and the Gahanna Big Walnut Greenbelt this afternoon.  These N-S greenways offer wildlife refuges in the urban & suburban spread of Columbus, and offer a chance to see if similar environs attract similar birds during this severe winter weather.

Along Alum Creek, I visited Mock Park, Innis Park, & Tanager Woods.  Only a few open water stretches were along the creek, but they held flocks of geese, Mallards, & a few Hooded Mergansers.  Landbirds were down in number, with many birds moving to nearly feeders.  Mock had fresh Turkey tracks in the snow.  Innis had a Barred Owl roosting in a grapevine tangle, as well as small groups of Bluebirds and Brown Creepers, along with 2 Hermit Thrushes. Flock birds were in all 3 parks, but most of the ground feeders were mssing; some were around feeders in yards near innis and Tanager Woods.  Ominously, I had no wrens at any of these parks, where 6-8 Carolinas & a Winter would have been a normal haul here.

Along the Scioto River, there were patches of open water, with one near Kiwanis park, and larger ones up close to O'Shaughnessy dam.  Despite the small size, the Kiwanis hole had a huge flock of 1500 Canada Geese; there could have been other geese with them, but they were a bit further north than I could approach.  The open water below the dam had fewer geese (250+), but also had Mallards, Black Ducks, 2 Common Goldeneye, and 21 Great Blue Herons.  Landbirds were the typical flock birds except for 3 Carolina Wrens & 1 Winter Wren at Kiwanis.  Sparrows were scarce, except around Kiwanis feeders.

Along Big Walnut Creek in Gahanna, I hiked through snow squalls this afternoon, from Old Ridenour Rd up to Academy Park.  Here the creek also had only a few open holes, and they had attracted flocks of geese and mallards, along with a few Hooded Mergansers.  The Barred Owl of Woodside Green was being tormented by mobbing songbirds, and a Cooper's Hawk cruised feeders just south of the park.  Woodside Green Park had a Pileated Woodpecker and Sapsucker, a small flock of Bluebirds, and 3-4 Carolina Wrens, along with the expected flock birds. Sparrows were also scarce here, except around a few feeders in the surrounding neighborhood.

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