This morning Paul Gardner and I braved a chilly wet spell at the
restored prairies at Battelle-Darby MP SW of Columbus. The habitat
specialties here also include a relatively untouched riparian forest,
which we did not visit. A few decades ago, American bitterns were very
hard to find in the county; it is too early to tell whether all of them
were nesting, but we heard eight bitterns (saw two in flight
squabbling). Noisy marsh wrens, recently discovered to be nesting, were
found at Teal Pond; they have been hard or impossible to find in the
county for several decades as breeders. Henslow's sparrows were getting
close to impossible to find in the county in recent decades, but a
healthy population was heard along Kuhlwein Rd, along with vespers, one
of whose nests (four eggs) I nearly stepped on.
        The wetter parts were flooded, and boots are advised. The local
breeding waterfowl--coots, mallards, bl-winged teals, shovelers, black
ducks, hooded mergansers--were present, but the water was so high as to
invite no shorebirds; if the weather turns normal we should see many of
these migrants later.
        All in all some very hopeful signs are rewarding the Parks'
improvements here, and exploration should be worthwhile for local birders.
Bill Whan
Cols

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