A quick bike tour through the lower reaches of 3-Creeks Park in south Columbus found a good diversity of migrants, as well as most of the Great Egrets currently in south Franklin County. One of the borrow pits squeezed between the bikepath and I-270 is down to its last half acre of water, and it was infested with 50 Great Egrets (along with 8 Great Blue Herons, Wood Ducks, Mallards, and a few shorebirds). An adult Bald Eagle even swooped in to snag one of the struggling fish...and the Egrets barely moved. The pool is drying fast, though, so the spectacle will be short-lived.
Elsewhere along the path I ran into small flocks of migrants and heard lots of Thrushes. The highlights for 1.5 hours included
Chimney Swifts - several flocks of 20+ feeding over the forest
Hummingbirds - at least 2 Roby-throats at different points along the trail
Flycatchers - calling Acadians at several spots, but no pewees!
Vireos - singing White-eyed, Yellow-throated, and 4 Warbling around the Borrow Pits, while 4-5 Red-eyed were along other parts of the trail.
Red-br.Nuthatch - at least 1-2 hanging around the pines of the Confluence area
Wrens,Gnatcatchers - House Wrens in many locations. A late gnatcatcher was at the Confluence area.
Thrushes - lots of Swainsons (30+), along with 3 Gray-cheeked and 2 Wood Thrushes
Mimids - lots of Catbirds (30+), but no thrashers or mockingbirds
Cedar Waxwings - flocks of 20-25 at several locations, usually near fruit trees
Warblers - 14 Species, led by 6 Magnolias and 5 Redstarts and 5 Common Yellowthroats. Also had 1 late Yellow-throated and 2 juvenile Pine. Others included Parulas, Nashvilles, Tennessees, Black-thr.Greens, Blackburnian, Blackpolls, Bay-breasted, Ovenbird, and Wilsons
Buntings,Grosbeaks - 1-2 Indigo Buntings, no grosbeaks
Sparrows - flocks of Chipping Sparrows around the Confluence area, along with the expected Towhees, Fields, and Song Sparrows.
Blackbirds - steady stream of small #s of Redwings and Grackles overhead all morning
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