Today I was joined by Jim Fry. We began with a stop at Highbanks Metro Park  
looking for Summer Tanagers. The males were heard singing in the tree canopy  
but  refused to cooperate and show themselves, however when we were just  
about to give up a female dropped down and  foraged near us. We got  decent  views 
of her before she moved on. The Summer tanagers have been  staying near the 
nature center.
 
We moved on to the Hoover Nature Preserve where we birded in areas where we  
could stay in the shade. There we stopped to visit the Ruby-throated 
Hummingbird  as she continues to incubate her eggs. If my calculations are accurate the 
eggs  should hatch this weekend. I’m hoping to observe her feeding the 
hatchlings next  week. We checked several of the Prothonotary warbler nest sites and 
confirmed  that many nests fledged during the past several days. We tried to 
locate the  fledglings by observing the adults . I located just one today as 
the adult   brought it food. Later we located a new nest site that I had not 
previously  found. The adults were bringing food to the hatchlings and carrying 
off fecal  sacs.
 
On the way back home we added a “white water rat”, aka Mute Swan. As  
beautiful as these introduced birds are they are a bane to native waterfowl.  They 
aren’t the best of neighbors to other water birds, often chasing them off,  but 
worse, they destroy the food supply by their habits of tearing plants out by  
their roots. I consider them to be the British revenge for the American  
Revolution. 
 
Species of interest included:
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated  Hummingbird
Pileated Woodpecker
Cliff Swallow
Wood Thrush
Red-eyed  Vireo
Northern Parula
Prothonotary Warbler
Summer Tanager
 
A quiet day. The birds knew to stay still and in the shade better than we  
did.
 
Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve
Delorme 58C (2) &  (3)  




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