Finch finding fails

Well, I dipped on Purple Finch and Pine Siskin yesterday. I visited three good spots with feeders in Columbus: Greenlawn Cemetery, Blacklick Creek metropark, and Blendon Woods metropark. Bird activity was somewhat low, with few birds at feeders (perhaps no more than 15 at a time at any of the three spots). These House Finches at Blacklick Creek were the closest I got to Purple Finches:


To add insult to injury, reports from Blendon Woods today included a Merlin and Pine Siskins, both of which would make great additions to my year list, especially for Ohio (I am EIGHT birds away from 250 species in Ohio for the year- my best year yet for the state).

However, not all was bad - I did get some nice photographs, especially of a male Northern Cardinal, along with some others.

Northern Cardinal, Blendon Woods

Pied-billed Grebe, Blendon Woods

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Blacklick Creek

Pair of American Widgeon, Blendon Woods