Stopping at several areas around Gahanna today, I found a few birds that have been highlighting the winter in central Ohio so far, both in local CBCs and on this listserv. They included: N.Flickers - had them at every stop I made today, and they've been locally common for over a month. The Columbus CBC had a record number, and I suspect the totals for other local CBCs were large, too. Does an extended deep freeze push them south, by freezing up their ground foraging sites? Red-headed Woodpeckers - in contrast to Flickers, the CBCs struggled for these birds - Columbus only had 2. In the subsequent freeze, though, something changed, and now they're here. I had a few around Hoover yesterday, and today found 3-4 at 2 different sites in Gahanna. The easy spot is a brand new preserve opened in Jefferson Township called the Boehnke Preserve. I had a chance the meet the Boehnkes before they passed, and they'd be thrilled with the preserve that the Township has made of their former property. Today a patch of large oaks here had 4 very noisy red-heads, and hopefully they'll stay the winter. Winter Wrens - I found one today at Creekside Park in Gahanna, the 5th one I've found this month. Last month, they were equally common -- the Columbus CBC had a staggering 9. What causes these little guys to move out in numbers? Whatever the cause, if you've needed winter wrens, they're in almost all the big parks around Columbus right 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]