I checked several new areas of the preserve today for Prothonotary Warbler
activity, including Oxbow Road, Mudhen Marsh and Little Walnut Creek. As each
day arrives, so do more Prothonotary Warbler males. They are beginning to show
 signs of territorial behavior and several are checking out nest boxes. Other
 activity is also stepping up and the birding should be even better over the
next  week. However, today I observed another sign of spring, one we all can
do  without, the first tick. He was eagerly heading up my trouser leg. He is
now it  tick heaven. Time to break out the DEET.

Species Observed
Double-crested Cormorant    (several hundred near  Pelican Island)
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture     (large kettles near roost  site)
Canada Goose    (enough nest to qualify as a  sub-division)
Wood Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Hooded Merganser
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker    (activity at nest hole)
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker    (pair at nest hole)
Eastern Phoebe    (nest under bridge)
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow    (active nest sites)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  (very high numbers everywhere)
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher    (good numbers)
European Starling
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler    (starting to sing from every low  treetop)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler    (males spectacular singing in  the sunlight - but
then I'm bias)
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve




**************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car
listings at AOL Autos.
(http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]