I spent the morning visiting parks along Big Walnut Creek and Alum Creek in north Columbus & Westerville, scouting for both the Columbus and Hoover CBCs. The wild berry crop is phenomenal in many places, with honeysuckle, buckthorn, hackberry, and Callery Pears dripping with fruit. This made fruit-eaters the star of the morning, with lots of Robins, Waxwings,and White-throated Sparrows. Other highlights included:
Waterfowl - pretty slim pickings, other than the expected Mallards and Geese. 1 Bufflehead was on Schrock Lake in Sharon Woods, while the lakes around Heritage Park and Otterbein Lake had only geese.
Woodpeckers - loads of common varieties, but also had Pileated and sapsucker at 2 locations
Mimids - lots of Mockingbirds, but they were eclipsed by a late Catbird lurking in Innis Park. There should be more of them around with this glut of berries.
Larks - flyover Horned Larks were at 4 different locations, as the very last vestige of landbird migration
Creepers - no great numbers, but they were at 3 different locations
Wrens - Carolinas were abundant, the product of a good year. There was also a single Winter along Big Walnut Creek at Woodside Green Park
Sparrows - picking through the hordes of White-throated Sparrows found a few Tree Sparrows, 2 Fox Sparrows (Innis Park & Heritage Park), and 1 Field Sparrow (Sharon Woods).
Finches - no Purple Finches, but a few Siskins were around Tanager Woods and Sharon Woods.
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