Actually, I started at Berliner, but this title was too alliterative to resist. I visited riverside parks that included Berliner, Whittier, the Olentangy Research Area (at OSU), and Whetstone, mostly looking to see if the rivers were thawing and to look for unusual winter 'migrants'. The only section of river with significant thawing was the Scioto river below the Greenlawn dam in Berliner Park. Here the river was mostly open and had accumulated 50+ Canada Geese 50+ mallards 12+ Black Ducks 32 Common Goldeneye 6 Hooded Merganser 8 Great Blue Herons 80+ Ring-billed Gulls 2 Herring Gulls Landbirds were mostly singing residents, but each site had something interesting. Highlights included: Peregrine - 1 flyby at Whittier Sapsuckers - singles at Olentangy wetlands and at Whetstone Brown Creepers - still 4-5 along the bikepath in Berliner, plus singles at Olentangy and Whetstone Golden-cr.Kinglet - 2 were along the bikepath at Whittier, while another was at Whetstone NO blackbirds of any kind, not even grackles (which are usually present here by now). ______________________________________________________________________ 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]