The Columbus Audubon field trip to the urban Scioto River found moderate weather today, which made for a pleasant morning, but limited the unusual birds (which often congregate at open water 'holes' here during extended freezes). We stopped at both Scioto Audubon and Berliner Park, walking the riverside bikepath in both parks.  I also made a brief stop at the Greenlawn Cemetery afterwards, but didn't find much.  While the Scioto River above the Greenlawn dam was almost completely frozen, the river below the dam had long stretches of open water.  We were still able to pull out some interesting birds, including:

Canada Geese - flocks everywhere, with 400+ along the open parts of the river and another 100-150 flying around Scioto Park
Black Ducks - at least 2 below the Greenlawn dam
Hooded Mergansers - 3-4 pairs at various points below the dam
Great Blue Herons - 8+ were scattered at various points along the river below the Greenlawn dam, a modest # for winter here
Gulls - a large flock swirled past, headed north; mostly Ring-bills, but with at least 1 Herring
BaldEagle - 1 was in Berliner Park early, but couldn't be relocated later in the morning
Accipiters - a Coopers was in Berliner, and a Sharpie was in the nearby Greenlawn Cemetery
Red-tailed - at least 3 were hunting over the fields at the south part of Berliner, giving us excellent views
Sapsucker - at least 1 was in the Cemetery, a juvenile in the ravine area
BrownCreepers - 2-3 were in the bottomland forest along the Berliner park bikepath
Tree Sparrows - at least 4 were lurking in the large weedfield at the southern part of Berliner Park
White-throated Sparrows - flocks along the bikepath in Scioto Audubon Park; few elsewhere

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