The cooler morning pushed a good flow of migrants through one of the bottlencks of this large south Columbus park this morning.  I focused most of my time at Heron Pond, a mix of pond and fields along Alum Creek in the central part of the park.  The narrow riparian strip along Alum Creek here has often been a great migrant funnel, especially in late September - October.  This morning was no exception, with steady pulses of migrants along the forest edge for the 1.2 hour slot that I was there.  Highlights included:

Herons - 2 Great Blues were residents, but a south-flying Great Egret was more likely a migrant

Woodpeckers - several resident Downies and Red-bellies competed for attention with 6-7 Flickers and 2 sapsuckers

swifts & swallows - a few chimney swifts were circling overhead much of the morning, but were overshadowed by a flock of 30+ Rough-winged Swallows winging over Heron Pond itself

Flycatchers - scarce, with only single Pewee and Phoebe

Vireo - only a single Red-eyed was seen

Thrushes,Mimids - only 1 Swainson's Thrush, but plenty of Robins (70-80) and catbirds (10+)

Warblers - 10 species, with Yellow-rumps easily the most numerous (20+ individuals), followed by Common yellowthroat (4), Palm (4), Nashville (3), and Cape May (3).  Less common were Tennessee, Black-thr.Green, Magnolia, Blackpoll, and Redstart

Grosbeaks, Buntings - 1 Rose-br.grosbeak was low, but 5-6 Indigo Buntings was a rise in this migrant

Sparrows - lots of Field and Song Sparrows, but little else.

Blackbirds - several small flocks of Redwings and grackles, along with 2-3 individual Brown-headed Cowbirds.

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