Nature: The many bird species at Highbanks Metro Park

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15-03-2025

Central Ohioans are beneficiaries of one of the greatest park systems in the country. Founded in 1945, Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks opened its first park, Blacklick Woods, in 1948.
Nearly 80 years later, the system has expanded to include 20 parks, encompassing almost 30,000 acres. Park employees deliver around 3,500 interpretative programs annually, and our parks protect 2,500 species of plants and animals.
The fifth metro park to be established was Highbanks in 1973. The 1,200-acre park with its 14 miles of trails sits on the west side of U.S. 23, just three miles north of I-270.
I was 11 when Highbanks opened and lived just four miles south of it in Worthington. My parents took me there the year it opened, and a trip to Highbanks meant a 3-mile trip through the country to reach it (remember Jerry's Drive-In, anyone?).
Today, Highbanks is mostly hemmed in by development, as northern Franklin County/southern Delaware County has exploded with sprawl and it's ever tougher to find natural open spaces.
Our parks are much appreciated by people, and Highbanks hosted 1,333,360 visitors in 2024. That's equivalent to ALL the people who reside in Franklin County.
People are not the only beneficiaries of Highbanks (and our other parks). The year after it opened, Highbanks hosted a Bachman's sparrow. I was only 12, thus I had no driver's license, but my always supportive parents ran me up the road to see the bird. That was the last territorial Bachman's sparrow in Ohio. It was once a widespread nester.
There's still plenty of birds, as large urban parks such as Highbanks become ever more important players in the conservation of our natural resources. To date, 203 bird species have been recorded — nearly half of ALL species documented in Ohio.
Highbanks visitors often see one of the local barred owls, and locally nesting bald eagles stage frequent flyovers.
All seven regularly occurring woodpecker species can be found, but the star of the drummers is the crow-sized pileated woodpecker. Wood ducks, belted kingfishers and hooded mergansers (in season) are regular sights along the Olentangy River.
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Tying Highbanks to a much larger bioeconomy are the warblers. Twenty-two species of these small songbirds nest in Ohio, and a dozen of them breed at Highbanks.
Perhaps most notable are the Louisiana waterthrushes that breed along streams that forged the deep ravines at Highbanks. This species is now the fourth rarest of the eastern warblers.
Also notable to birders are the resident summer tanagers. The brick-red males sing their burry songs from the park's oak trees and frequently snap up large wasps and bees — their dietary stock in trade.
In all, birds that breed at Highbanks radiate to wintering grounds in Mexico, all of the Central American countries and many in South American countries.
Back on Feb. 16, Shauna and I ventured to Highbanks on the heels of a storm that dumped four inches of powdery snow. The park was transformed into a winter wonderland, and our cameras worked overtime to try and capture the park's beauty.
My favorite trail — highly recommended — is the Overlook Trail, which bisects wonderful older-growth forest sliced by steep-sided ravines. The trail terminates at the park's namesake high banks, a 110-foot tall, nearly vertical shale bluff overlooking the Olentangy River. Two Adena culture burial mounds and an earthwork are nearby.
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If you visit, be sure to stop in the nature center (145,749 visitors last year). A robust bird-feeding operation is easily viewed from picture windows, and the center is loaded with educational displays. Naturalist Chrissy Hoff is a wealth of information and can answer all of your questions.
For more information about Highbanks and all of our metro parks, visit: metroparks.net.
Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at jim mccormac.blogspot.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nature: Birds flock to Highbanks Metro Park