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.

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