I spent a few hours this morning wandering the parks along the western edge of this Columbus suburb looking for winter birds. I stopped at Glacier Ridge MetroPark, Trabue Nature Preserve, and Avery & Darree Fields Parks. All have woodlots, but Glacier Ridge & Darree Fields are beyond the suburban fringe, while the other 2 parks are sqaurely surrounded by suburban yards now. With an inch of snow and the cold wind, the landscape looked winter-like, and the birding was like-wise slow. Notables included: Barred Owl - the Glacier Ridge bird was back on his Beech perch along the Multi-use Trail. Take the paved trail west from the north parking lot to where it makes a T with the Multi-use Trail, turn right (north) and walk into the woodlot. As the trail turns to run past a small scrub swamp in the middle of the woodlot, look for the bird perched on a Beech snag on the left that is completely broken off about 12 - 15 feet up. Look carefully as the bird blends in very well. Kildeer - 1 bird was piping forlornly in the middle of a snow-covered field at Darree. It's the third I've had in 5 days (1 in Columbus 12/17, 2 in Westerville 12/19) Redwing - 1 was flying south over Darree, perhaps the last I'll see this winter. Dick Miller mentioned that a big roost had been found down near Pickerington lately, but no telling if they'll stick around in this cold weather. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]