Lots of birds at Blacklick Metro Park today. Highlights were many, but I'll try and pick a few. Everywhere I looked I saw Swainson's Thrushes; huge movement of those lately. At the feeders and the pond beyond were several Indigo Buntings, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Eastern Towhees, Wood Ducks with ducklings, and Green Heron. On my way in to the park, near the nature Center Parking lot I had a good look at a Black-billed Cuckoo! Black-throated Blue Warblers were around the Buttonbush Trail and the Maple Trail. Many Chestnut-sided Warblers were about singing their confusing secondary songs, as were a number of Blackburnian Warblers. Also more than usual Northern Parulas, Bay-breasted, and a single Cape May Warbler were there. Got to see one of our Barred Owls catch and eat a large mole salamander. Oh and I got a good luck at a tail-bobbing Northern Waterthrush near the golf course on Maple trail. Later, when I looked up at a bird near the nature center, at first I thought it was a Baltimore Oriole because its belly was such a rich orange, but on further inspection I saw that it had black wings and tail and was in fact an amazing Orange morph Scarlet Tanager! I've seen pictures of them but had never seen one such a beautiful tangerine orange. Below is an edited list of the highlights: Location: Blacklick Woods Metro Park--Southeast (Fairfield Co.) Observation date: 5/12/10 Number of species: 88 Wood Duck 17 Great Blue Heron 1 Green Heron 1 Cooper's Hawk 2 Red-tailed Hawk (Eastern) 1 Killdeer 1 American Woodcock 1 Black-billed Cuckoo 1 Barred Owl 3 Common Nighthawk 2 Chimney Swift 8 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 4 Downy Woodpecker 2 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 2 Willow Flycatcher 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 2 Eastern Kingbird 1 White-eyed Vireo 1 Yellow-throated Vireo 2 Warbling Vireo 2 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Blue Jay 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4 Eastern Bluebird 2 Veery 2 Swainson's Thrush 50 Wood Thrush 5 Brown Thrasher 1 Tennessee Warbler 2 Nashville Warbler 4 Northern Parula 4 Yellow Warbler 3 Chestnut-sided Warbler 6 Magnolia Warbler 3 Cape May Warbler 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Black-throated Green Warbler 4 Blackburnian Warbler 4 Yellow-throated Warbler 1 Palm Warbler 1 Bay-breasted Warbler 4 Black-and-white Warbler 2 American Redstart 4 Ovenbird 4 Northern Waterthrush 1 Common Yellowthroat 2 Hooded Warbler 2 Scarlet Tanager 3 One male a stunning Orange morph. Very cool! Lincoln's Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 2 White-crowned Sparrow 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5 Indigo Bunting 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 10 Baltimore Oriole 2 Good Birding! Ben Warner : Naturalist at Blacklick Woods Metro Park BLACKLICK WOODS 6975 E. Livingston Ave. Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 (eastern Franklin & northwestern Fairfield counties) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]