March is the time to be thinking of waterfowl, as well as some early migrant shorebirds, raptors and landbirds. Even though this March has been spotty for waterbirds, there was a steady stream of them through central Ohio. But where is the best place to take in a good diversity of them? Hoover Reservoir has […]
We always like to have our personal myths of what constitutes the first true ‘sign’ of Spring. Frogs croaking in the marsh, Robins gamboling around the lawn, or Bluebirds singing from a nest box, each of these acts as a comfortable reassurance that winter is finally on the wane. But most of our signs
Some of Columbus’ neighborhoods offer surprisingly good birding, usually depending on how much of their native forest is still there. One of the most interesting, both biologically and historically, is Minerva Park. As its name implies, this was once a park, but it was an amusement park rather than a nature park. The park kept
When the dust settles on the CBC season, we compilers often asked to summarize the count numbers and give some perspective to them. I’ve helmed the Columbus CBC for 7 years now, and have watched as the circle has ‘filled in’ with development, restricting our open areas to parks, riparian strips, and golf courses. In
“Oh, I see that you have binoculars. Are you a bird watcher?”, asked the woman walking her dog down the snowy path in a Gahanna park. “Yes, but it’s been kind of a slow morning today, what with the deep snow and cold”, I replied. “Well”, she continued with a little tinge of excitement, “My
If you’re reading this, chances are good that you’re sitting indoors at your computer or laptop, in a warm environment that stands in stark contrast to the cold outside. It’s not just the cold that makes lateFall-earlyWinter birding challenging; it’s the bitter wind that comes with it. This is a time of year (along
