Pickerington Pond Metro Park
Nature Preserve (Wright Road Pond)
(Central Ohio)

To get there: On the east side of Columbus, exit I-70 south onto Brice Road; bear left onto Gender Road, then after several miles east onto Wright Road for about two miles to Bowen Road.

This pond, marsh, and woodland were saved from the maw of encroaching development through the efforts of the Nature Conservancy. It is an excellent place to look for birds from March through May and during the extended fall migration from late July all the way to December. Good views of the pond can be obtained from either Wright or Bowen roads.

Puddle ducks favor the far shore and sometimes feed in numbers on green duckweed at the east end of the pond, while diving birds are more apt to be in the center. Marshy areas and much of the lake can best be observed from recently relocated Bowen Road.

Waterbirds seen with a fair degree of frequency include the Common Loon, Horned and Pied-billed grebes, Tundra Swan, Canada Goose, Bonaparte's and Ring-billed gulls and Caspian, Common, and Black terns. Modest numbers of puddle and diving ducks are usually present during migration, especially in March and April. Transient Ospreys sometimes remain for a day or two, and Double crested Cormorants have been seen more frequently in recent years.

Grassy edges and mudflats yield Great Blue and Green-backed herons, an occasional Great Egret, and shorebirds &emdash; Semipalmated Plovers, Greater and Lesser yellowlegs, Solitary, Spotted, Semipalmated, Least, and Pectoral sandpipers, Dunlins, and Common Snipes &emdash; in small numbers and when conditions are right.

Large numbers of Chimney Swifts, Purple Martins Tree, Northern Rough-winged, Bank, and Barn swallows, and, infrequently, a few Cliff Swallows converge on the pond on cool days in April and May. In early spring and autumn, look for Water Pipits and newly arrived Yellow-rumped, and Palm wablers. Noteworthy species that have nested include the Pied-billed Grebe, Green-backed Heron, Canada Goose (many), Blue-winged Teal, Sora, American Coot, and Marsh Wren.

Rare species seen in migration include Least Bittern, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Mute Swan, Snow Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Greater Scaup, Virginia Rail, a possible Spotted Redshank, Red Knot, and Franklin's Gull.

Improvements recently completed or slated for the near future include parking areas, trails through an abutting woods, a viewing deck and blind. Many of the facilities will be handicapped-accessible.