I spent a few hours this morning hiking aound these Columbus parks south of downtown searching for early migrants. The river level was very high, flooding much of the riparian forest south of Greenlawn dam. The fast water flow discouraged a lot of waterfowl, so their numbers were not very high. Landbirds showed a pulse of early migrants, dominated by sparrows. Highlights included cormorants - 3 were in the bay off the boat launch waterfowl - a few Mallards, Black Ducks, and Hooded Mergansers in backwaters along the river woodpeckers - lots of Downies all along the river. 1 sapsucker was being chased by a Downy around the boat launch area Phoebe - 1 was calling from the meadow west of the Grange Audubon center E.Bluebird - 1 was singing near the boat launch turn-off Towhee - at least 3 scattered along the bikepath Tree Sparrow - a flock of 15-20 was at the north end of the fields north of the center Song Sparrow - everywhere, with 35+ in 2 hours Fox Sparrow - 3 along the bikepath south of the center White-throated Sparrows - 60+ in 2 hours Jonco - only a few along the bikepath ______________________________________________________________________ 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]