Brad Sparks and I greeted dawn around the north pond at the Darby
wetlands this morning. A skim of ice was on shallower water, and water
was as high as I've seen it, reducing mud to a narrow fringe. About 700
coots were the sole waterbirds, and they nervously accepted our presence
without taking flight. Some small flights of mallards, wood ducks, and
shovelers passed overhead, but no ducks were in the water.
        Shorebirds using the small amount of habitat included two killdeers, 3
greater yellowlegs, 9 lesser yellowlegs, 5 least sandpipers, two
pectoral sandpipers, and nine dunlins.
        Many harriers were seen, the most simultaneously four; also seen was a
pair of kestrels and fly-over ring-billed gulls. Sparrows seen here and
at the Kuhlwein marsh included tree, field, vesper, and white-crowned,
plus large numbers of song/savannah/swamp. No Ammodramus sparrows seen.
Kuhlwein had most of them; over at the wetlands sparrow numbers were
best in areas with diverse habitats/topography like swales and small
ridges. They were responsive to pishing.
         Oh, yes, we had two marsh wrens at Darby and another at
Kuhlwein; this species is a big deal in Franklin Co lately, where these
wrens have been very hard to find for 20+ years since the cattail stands
at Pickerington were lost. I'm guessing they may nest next spring.
        As to Al's question about tree swallows, they are the hardiest of our
sparrows, and survive on fruit after insects have grown scarce; down on
the east coast this time of year huge clouds of them are descending on
myrtle bushes to feed. They occasionally are seen well into November
here (and I think I have a December record somewhere), and are the first
swallows to return in the spring, in numbers in March, with one observed
in the county 16-17 *February* 1957 feeding in part on insects frozen in
lake ice. Tough birds.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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