I birded several parks along Alum Creek, all connected by a bikepath in this NE Columbus suburb, looking for migrants. The woodlands along the creek here are narrow and surrounded by houses and businesses, so it's a good bottleneck for migrants. ALthough late in the morning, there were still some interesting birds to be found. Afterwards, I hiked around the nearby Spring Creek trail in Sharon Woods MetroPark, which is actually a feeder stream for this part of Alum Creek. Highlights were:
Flycatchers - little other than Pewees, but there were 6-8 of them
Swallows - a few Rough-wings were cruising around Otterbein Lake, along part of the bikepath here.
Vireos - few, with a Blue-headed along the bikepath, and a few Red-eyed at Spring Creek. They seem to be ebbing away quickly.
Wrens,Kinglets - quite a few House Wrens in all areas, even in a later visit to Blendon Woods. This may be close to their migration peak. Also had a fisrt Winter Wren lurking in Mayne ravine alongAlum Creek. Ruby-cr.Kinglets were at several locations, but no Golden-crowns yet.
Thrushes - plenty of Swainson's and even a few Gray-cheeked along Alum Creek
Warblers - numbers OK, but diversity slipping, with only 7 species. Magnolias were the most common (6), followed by Redstarts and Black-thr.Greens (4 each), then Blackburnian, Blackpoll, and Chesnut-sided. Most unusual was the first Yellow-rump of the season, which should tell you it was fairly uneventful.
Tanagers,Grosbeaks,Buntings - surprisingly none. It's been a low-key migration for them so far.
Sparrows - even though there are plenty of meadows in the area, sparrows were restricted to the common trio of Chipping, Field, and Song, none in unusual numbers.
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