January 12, 2013....
Was not your normal January, middle of winter, day. It was almost 70 degrees. Knowing this wouldn't last long, my sister and I took off in search of Owls. I had great information and a map...to where Owls had been seen. We first stopped by our Eagles nest outside of town and were not disappointed. They were there and one was sitting on the nest!
So this was a great start to our adventure. We were headed to Blacklick Woods Metro Park in Reynoldsburg, Oh. We had no problem finding it and they had a nature center which was nice.
We spent some time there and headed out on the path......
The park is a registered Natural Landmark in 1975 by the National Park Services of the United States Department of Interior.
We walked and listened and looked...a nice hiking path that almost anyone could do.....
The woods were so pretty...the trees with the leaves are Beech (I was told by a friend) This is a Shagbark Hickory below.
We were enjoying the forest when we started to hear all this chirping and it seemed like the birds were all around us...but we didn't see anything...then we caught sight of the Red-bellied Woodpeckers chasing each other through the woods....
Then we saw Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse and these little birds on the ground that were scurrying around so fast...it took us a moment to realize they were American Goldfinch. They were so hard to see because they blended into the ground....
have circled where two are in this picture...there are probably more but see how they are almost invisible. There were House Finch with them but the males showed up better.
Did you find him in the picture? He is on the left side on branch...
Then we saw the Bluebirds....Oh my they were breathtaking in those woods....I was able to get a couple of pictures.....
The male...
The female, hiding in the leaves....
Needless to say, we had forgotten about the Owls with all these birds teasing us...Blue Jay was hollering at us....was just about heaven. As we continued around the trail we started to look at trees with holes in them....
This one was a favorite of the woodpeckers from the look of it...
This one looked like something is in it...but what???? Very strange...???
From a distance this looked interesting too..but once I got it on the computer...well...the fake wood bird! LOL
This next one I saw something move!
A Raccoon home!..see his ear?
This one was very promising...but no....onward we went..
Then we saw this couple looking into the woods...hmmmm..we approached.."What do you see?" The Lady replied, "An Owl!"
Hurrah!!! Our quest was at hand!!!! Finally we spotted him quite a ways away...
He was fast asleep...didn't even let on he knew we were there....
He is a Barred Owl. He has 3 1/2-foot wingspan. He is a big boy.....So we admired him and I took some pictures and we were very happy that we had completed our quest for the Owl.... 
We were getting hungry and hadn't realize how late it was getting so we went on our way....when....suddenly....I spotted something in the trees......could it be! Yes! A second Barred Owl!!!!!
This one was closer and he spun that head around and looked at us, like he was deciding....lunch or dinner????
But he soon realized it was paparazzi.....I snapped away and then we left him to continue his nap.
What a wonderful time we had....but the day wasn't over...we headed to Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus in search for the Crossbill.....
They have feeders by the little pond and we stopped there first.
There were Downy Woodpeckers, House Finch, Doves, Squirrels, Juncos, Nuthatches (white-breasted and red-breasted) and Pine Siskin.
Dove and House finch, above, Squirrel eating peanuts , below.....
This Red-breasted Nuthatch...they are so tiny and fast...
The Brown Creeper, who just wouldn't stay put for me to get a picture...do you see him at the top here.....
Pine Siskin...I was lucky to get this picture...It was starting to get late in the day and the light wasn't the best for taking pictures of little tiny cute birds.....
Some scenes from the cemetery....
We drove around looking for the Crossbill and we drove over and under this bridge....
This tombstone was an interesting one...looks like people bring all sorts of things to leave with the boy, who died Feb. 14, 1873, 6 years old.
This was the Civil War soldiers..was so beautiful with the wreaths.
Green Lawn Cemetery is such a peaceful and beautiful place just to walk and drive around in...see birds is the cheery on top!
As we were leaving...this Mockingbird was watching us drive by, sending us thoughts of "Come back soon!"
It had been a great day....One that I will remember for a long time....but on the way home the weather turned on us!!!!!
It started to rain and got very foggy!!
But that is Ohio for you.....
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