The Columbus Audubon trip to these 2 hotspots north of the city found late migration still strong, except for shorebirds. We started at Alum Creek State Park, first at the spillway, then the beach, and finally at the New Galena boat ramp area. Then we drove the 3 miles east to Oxbow Island at Hoover, where a decent fallout held us captive for the rest of the trip. You might want to visit some of these areas over the next week while they're still good. Notables included:
Waterfowl -- spotty as we're a bit early, but Oxbow had a pair of Pintail in eclipse plumage, and Alum still hosted lots of cormorants and a surprising 6 Pied-billed Grebes around the inlets at New Galena Herons -- Great Egrets were at the Alum spillway and Oxbow Island, which also had a Green Heron Raptors -- pretty minimal, with flyover Sharp-shinned at New Galena and Osprey & Red-tail at Oxbow. One highlight, though, were the very adaptable Vultures at the Alum beach area -- we even watched a few dumpster-diving and vandalizing cars! Shorebirds -- nothing but Killdeer Gulls -- good numbers of Ring-bills at both the Alum beach and Oxbow island, but little else other than a few Herring Gulls on the beach with the Ring-bill throng. Woodpeckers -- all the expected ones, including sapsuckers at several spots and a Red-headed out on Oxbow Island Flycatchers -- nothing but E.Phoebes Swallows -- 2 Barn Swallows were flycatching around the dam at Alum Creek State Park Vireos -- 1 eluded our efforts to ID it at New Galena Jays -- lots of jays at every stop, but no massive movement noted yet. With a large mast crop this year, they may not move much at all. Creeper,Wrens -- Brown Creeper was at New Galena, while Winter Wrens were at several locations Kinglets -- both species were at New Galena Thrushes -- Swainson's were at most locations, but strangely we couldn't pull out any Hermit Thrushes or Gray-cheeked. Mimids -- Mockingbirds and Brown Thrasher were at New Galena, while a Catbird was calling near the beach at Alum Lake CedarWaxwings -- a few were around New Galena, a very reliable spot for them Warblers -- we struggled to find a few species at New Galena, but hit a windfall at Oxbow, including Nashville, Tennessee, Magnolia, Redstart, Cape Mays, Blackburnians, Bay-breasted, Blackpolls, Yellow-rumps, Black-thr.Greens, Black-thr.Blues, and N.Waterthrush Cardinalids -- lots of Cardinals, but New Galena also had a Rose-br.Grosbeak Sparrows -- surprisingly scarce, with only Song and White-throated noted Blackbirds -- Redwings were around several spots at Alum, while Grackles were at New Galena Finches -- nothing but the expected House Finches and Goldfinches
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