Rob Thorn

Mention “Blacklick Woods” to most central Ohio birders, or even non-birders, and they’ll immediately think of the swamp forest and associated Nature Center. It’s a natural response, since that’s where most of the trails and picnic areas are located, and where most of the Metropark programs occur here. There is however, more to the park […]

I heard the thin ascending call long before I could find the bird. I was walking around Bareis Preserve, an overgrown meadow along Walnut Creek in Canal Winchester, and heard the rising ‘ zee zee zee zee zee zee zee zee zee’.  Tthe distinctive call hit me like a slap: Prairie Warbler, and it wasn’t

Every Spring, those of us birders in central Ohio enjoy the waves of migrants in an unusual fashion, telling each other how nice a morning was, then adding “but its not like up at the Lake” or “we’re going to Magee next weekend”.  It’s the same sort of civic insecurity and self-depreciation that manifests itself

There used to be so many of them, at least by the evidence of old maps. Strung south of Stimmel Ave and the Greenlawn cemetery were a series of large quarries that were mined for limestone and gravel. Old birding accounts speak of them as bird oases, as do some old CBC notes. Now there’s

There’s 4 inches on the ground, and more in the forecast. Why would any central Ohio birder be happy with that scenario? In fact, though, deep snow offers some great opportunities for birding that don’t occur in milder winters. Not only are some species, like longspurs, raptors, and shrikes, pushed further south into our area,