With the very high temperatures predicted for this weekend, I tried to do some of my nest box monitoring Friday. I began with Weise Road. This area used to be much wilder until they ran a section of the Ohio to Erie Bike Trail through it. All the traffic has materially cut down the amount of bird activity here. When nature had taken over the old road the area was thick with activity and there were four times the number of Prothonotary Warbler territories along the shore. The road is still well worth a morning walk as there are still numerous species that nest here including the Prothonotary Warblers. 
    Friday I located 3 Prothonotary Warbler territories along the road from the entrance nearest Old 3C Highway to the abandoned section that continues pass where the bike trail turns to the right and over the road. Only one of the males had been banded. The other two were not. I also observed a female emerge from a nest box and flit about looking for food. It should not be long before the Prothonotaries begin showing signs of hatchlings in the nest and the first fledglings. 
    The road has many Yellow Warblers along its length. It almost seemed that their territories were too close and over the bush arguments would be pursued. There were signs of too many too close today as I observed multiple squabbles. The males made the presence known as they sang from the overhead wires, bush tops and trees. I counted upwards of 15 of them.
    Some of the other species Friday include, in part, a Green Heron staking prey along the water's edge; Warbling Vireos sounding off from the upper areas of the trees; flycatchers were represented by Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatchers and an Eastern Kingbird; Among the woodpeckers were a nesting pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers and a passing by Pileated Woodpecker; lots of Baltimore Orioles; and many Gray Catbirds. I apparently walked too close to one's nest as it raised a ruckus as I was watching a Prothonotary Warbler and it buzzed my once.
    I later walked out on the boardwalk at Area M to check for Prothonotary Warbler activity. There were five males singing from the back of the small inlets and along the boardwalk. Near the end of the boardwalk a banded male landed on the rail ahead of me. Always a great sight in the sunlight.
    Charlie Bombaci, Hoover Nature Preserve


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