I spent part of the morning hiking around parks along Walnut Creek between Groveport and Canal Winchester, including Walnut Woods (Buckeye section), Bareis Preserve, and Kelley Preserve. Walnut Creek has only a narrow riparian strip here, but the surrounding fields are in different stages of succession, so there were lots of riparian, edge, and successional field birds, including: Belted Kingfisher - 1 at nest burrow at Kelley Preserve E.Wood Pewees - 4-5 singing Willow Flycatchers - 5-6 pairs, all at Walnut Woods or Bareis Warbling Vireos - 3-4 singing Red-eyed Vireos - 4-5 singing Wood Thrushes - 5 singing Swainson's Thrush - 2 migrants Gray Catbirds - 20+ Yellow Warblers - 12+ singing Parula Warbler - 1 singing at Kelley Preserve Yellow-throated Warblers - single singers at each park PRAIRIE WARBLER - 1 singing in successional field at Bareis Preserve Amer.Redstarts - 2 at Walnut Woods Common Yellowthroats - 16+ over all 3 parks Rose-br.Grosbeaks - singing birds at both Walnut Woods and Bareis Preserve Towhees - 4-5 singing Field Sparrows - 8-10 singing Lincoln's Sparrow - 1 late migrant at Bareis Preserve Orchard Orioles - 2 singing at both Walnut Woods and at Bareis Preserve Later in the morning, I went down to Slate Run MetroPark, where I hiked the forested ravines of the 5-Oaks Trail, then visited part of the wetlands off Winchester Pike. Not much on the wetlands, but landbirds were very interesting, including Yellow=billed Cuckoo - 1 Pileated Woodpeckers - 2-3 along 5-Oaks trail E.Wood Pewee - 12+ along 5-Oaks Tr. Acadian Flycatchers - 16+ along 5-Oaks Tr. White-eyed Vireo - 2 singing near 5-Oaks Tr. Yellow-thr.Vireos - 2 singing along 5-Oaks Trail Red-eyed Vireos - 18-20 singing along 5-Oaks Trail Wood Thrushes - 12+ singing along 5-Oaks Trail Swainson's Thrush - 2-3 migrants still lurking along 5-Oaks Trail Brown Thrasher - 1 singing along woods edge on 5-Oaks Trail Gray Catbirds - 5-6 along edge of 5-Oaks Trail Yellow Warbler - 1 in wetland Parula Warbler - 1 along Slate Run Creek on 5-Oaks Trail Yellow-throated Warblers - 1-2 along 5-Oaks Trail (there are some sycamores along Slate Run Creek) Amer.Redstart - 1 singing along 5-Oaks Trail Kentucky Warbler - 1 singing near Shady Grove Picnic Area Hooded Warblers - 4-5 singing along 5-Oaks Trail Louisiana Waterthrushes - 2 singing along 5-Oaks Trail, along Slate Run creek Com.Yellowthroats - 4-5 singing in meadows along edge of 5-Oaks Trail Wilson's Warbler - 1 singing near Shady Grove Picnic area Yellow-br.Chat - 1 singing at wetland Scarlet Tanager - 2 pairs along 5-Oaks Trail Summer tanager - 1 female calling at Shady Grove picnic area Rose-br.Grosbeak - 1 singing at Shady Grove Picnic area Baltimore Orioles - 1 pair singing and calling around wetland parking area ______________________________________________________________________ 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]