Saturday I stopped at several areas along the west edge of Columbus and Hilliard, starting with several areas of Prairie Oaks MetroPark, then moving east to the parks along Clover-Groff Run (Franks, Clover-Groff, Spindler). Water level was lower then prior weeks, but birding was spotty, and mosquitos were bad in spots. Notables included: Egrets - 2 Great Egrets were hunting the shallows along Clover Groff Run, quite a ways from the Marble Cliff colony Pied-billed Grebe - a single bird was at Darby Bend Lakes, where they don't have a history of nesting cormorants - none at Darby Bend Lakes, but 4 were sunning in a snag by a pond along Clover-Groff north of Roberts Rd. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1 was calling along the Sycamore Plains trail, in good nesting habitat Red-headed Woodpecker - an adults was calling from the snags along the River Rock Trail at Darby Bend Lakes Willow Flycatchers - good #s were in overgrown fields at nearly every stop, even the small fields along Clover-Groff Vireos - the expected Warblings were joined by Red-eyed at several spots and even Yellow-throated at Sycamore Plains Purple Martins - a small roost of 32-34 birds was in snags along the River Rock Trail, single flyovers were at many locations Thrushes - the lone Wood Thrush was at Sycamore Plains, probably the largest block of woodland I visited all morning Warblers - nothing other than the expected Yellows (few), Yellow-throated (few), and Common Yellowthroats (many) Orioles - not a single one at any of these riparian strips, where they're regular nesters, so they're on the move now. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]