Today's weather was just too nice to waste. I put aside the To-Do List and headed to the preserve to enjoy nature and determine what was active. Appropriately the first species of my day was Prothonotary Warbler. I checked their activity at multiple sites in the Hoover Nature Preserve and joyfully observed them at every stop. Locations I visited included Oxbow Road, Wiese Road, Areas L, M and N, the boardwalk in Galena,  Little Walnut Creek and Old Sunbury Road. Fledglings were present at most sites. Often they were located low in a buttonbush, but more were in the lower canopy of the trees near where they fledged. 

    The only other warblers I found were a few Yellow Warblers, a couple of Common Yellowthroats, and singles for Ovenbird, Yellow-throated Warbler and Louisiana Water Thrush. Earlier in the spring there were Northern Parula in several locations but I didn't see or hear any today. Usually they nest along Big Walnut Creek.

    Yellow-billed Cuckoos seem to be having a very good year as I have been finding them in numbers widely spread within the preserve. Area N and Little Walnut Creek seem to be especially good locations for them.

    Many resident woodpeckers are either currently feeding hatchlings or fledglings. Red-headed Woodpeckers are abundant as I located adults with young at six locations. Shaune and I have found close to 25 nest cavities this spring. Other woodpeckers observed were Pileated, Downy, Red-bellied and Northern Flickers. Most of these are also rearing young.

    Flycatchers seen today were Eastern Wood Pewee, Acadian, Western Phoebe, Great Crested and Eastern Kingbird. I found an Acadian Flycatcher on its nest. She ducked her head and I went by quietly as if I hadn't seen her. The nest was at Area n. Earlier Shaune and I located a nest along the shore of one of the inlets at Twin Bridges. 

    The Osprey at the platform in Area Mare doing well. They were feeding their youngsters while I was in the area.  There appears to be some additional Osprey residing further south at the reservoir. I keep seeing them far from the pairs to the north.  There is an additional pair nesting off of SR 3 north of Galena. bald eagles and Red-shouldered Hawk were also active along the west shore.

    A few Great Egrets were foraging near the northeast shore and Green Herons were hunting from the top of snags. They were having better luck than the fishermen I encountered.

    There were many Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos around but only a single Yellow-throated Vireo, that near Big Walnut Creek. Most of the Cliff Swallow have fledged with but a small contingent still at the nests under the bridges. A small number of Baltimore Orioles were moving about but I only had singles of Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting and Eastern Towhee.

    My one negative for the day was the trash left behind by careless individuals. I guess that's why I keep a supply of large trash bags in the trunk. Picking up the trash does have its rewards. A few years ago I saw where people had thrown their empty beer cans inside an old structure. I got a trash bag and picked up the trash and discovered barn owls in the building. 

    Charlie Bombaci, Hoover Nature Preserve










    

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