With the weather crappy, I squeezed out time after work to visit comparable areas in these 2 Columbus MetroParks. Yesterday I stopped at Shrock Lake and the Thomas Trail in Sharon Woods, while today I visited Thoreau lake and the Lake Trail in Blendon Woods. Both had quite a few birds, including some early temperate migrants. Highlights included: Diving Ducks - both Shrock Lake and Thoreau Lake had small groups of Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks, while Shrock Lake also had a pair of Bufflehead Wood Ducks - Shrock lake had 14; Thoreau Pond had 4 Dabblers - Shrock Lake had 14 N.Shovelers, while Thoreau Lake still had 16 Black Ducks Raptors - both parks had hunting male Cooper's Hawks E.Phoebes - Sharon Woods had 3 Tree Swallows - both Lakes had 3-4 E.Bluebirds - pairs in both parks; Blendon's pair were frequenting the Nature Center feeders Yellow-rumped Warblers - 2-3 at each park E.Towhees - the Thomas Trail had 1, while the Lake Trail had 2 Sparrows - both had lots of Songs & White-throats and a few Juncos, while a Fox Sparrow was at the Blendon Nature Center feeders Blackbirds - Redwings and single Cowbirds at both parks, while Sharon Woods also had a flock of Grackles ______________________________________________________________________ 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]