Covington
Meadows
Habitat
Covington Meadows features 47 acres of preserved meadowland
on rehabilitated farmland. The public walking paths wind through lush
meadowlands filled with a wide variety of wildflowers, prairie grasses, birds
and small animals. The sub-soil at Covington Meadows is largely yellow clay,
yielding numerous pink and gray granite boulders, at least one the size of a
small automobile.
The upper reaches of Spring Run flow east out of Covington
Meadows, past the two subdivision retention ponds along Tussic Road and into
the Medallion Estates subdivision. That 600-acre tract had included vibrant
breeding grounds for the Great Blue Heron within more than 85 acres of
wetlands, much of which has been integrated into a golf course, with provisions
for curtailing activities during the breeding season. The waters draining from
there turn south and eventually flow into Alum Creek just north of
Dublin-Granville Road, between Westerville Road and I-270. While the
east-flowing run-off from Covington Meadows seemingly defies emptying into
nearby Hoover Reservoir and eventually flows into
the Alum Creek watershed, the close proximity of the lake has a definite impact
on the wildlife in the area.
Wildlife from Hoover
Reservoir often makes its way through the Covington Meadows subdivision, lying
less than a mile to the west (photo released to public domain by Tjayames).
In 1955, backed up water
fills the Big Walnut Creek valley at the Smothers Road bridge, which runs along
the southern border of Genoa Township. (photo courtesy of Columbus Division of
Power & Water).
Hoover Reservoir, with
watercraft limited to low-horsepower fishing and pontoon boats, sailboats, crew
boats, canoes and kayaks, offers fishermen largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, catfish,
and saugeye. More than
30 of Ohio’s 47 native shorebirds have been sighted at Hoover. Migrating
ducks, geese, swans and other common water birds stop at the lake, which also is
great habitat for unusual species, such as the common loon, hooded merganser,
ruddy ducks, and many others. Additionally, heron, red-shouldered hawks and
bald eagles have been spotted in areas adjacent to the reservoir. White-tailed deer frequent
the neighborhood, traveling west from the reservoir to Spring Run and through
an open causeway left for them through the middle of Covington Meadows.
Mud Hen Marsh, just one mile
east of Covington Meadows,
shelters a variety of wetlands wildlife. (GTLCA photo)
Heron, Canada Geese and other waterfowl from the nearby Mud Hen Marsh and Hoover Nature Preserve often visit the neighborhood. Mud Hen Marsh,
one mile east of Covington Meadows at the intersection of Big Walnut and
Sunbury Roads, is an area of protected wetlands, controlled succession forest,
and swamp forest where visitors can observe ducks, herons, shorebirds and
warblers, among other bird species.
Three miles to the north, near
Galena, the water levels of Hoover Reservoir drop seasonally, creating vast mud
flats within the preserve. The exposed lakebed supplies prime feeding grounds
for passing sandpipers, plovers and other shorebirds, as well as osprey lured
by the nesting stands built there.
The open spaces between the still-evident hedgerows at
Covington Meadows have been seeded and allowed to return to natural
prairieland, providing a home to wildflowers, prairie grasses, ground hogs,
foxes, rabbits, songbirds and many small animals. A red-tailed hawk makes its
home in the highest of the hedgerow trees, soaring overhead and scanning the
meadows for rodents. Barn swallows from the Rammelsberg barn and two remaining
Fritsche barns across Old 3-C Highway hunt insects throughout the meadows.