Today Verna Ansel joined me at the Hoover Nature Preserve. Verna is a newer
birder and has the prospect of all those new species to discover. I tried to
do  my part to add some new birds to her new and fun pastime.

The day varied from cloudy to sunny, to windy and finally rain, but none of
this deterred us from having fun. We began the morning at Oxbow Road where we
watched the show present by the Prothonotary Warblers, a show that went on
all  day. I may not be able to promise someone a House Sparrow, but I am always
confident that the Prothonotary Warblers will come through. At Oxbow we
observed  multiply Baltimore Orioles in their bright orange and black spring
outfits and  several other species of warblers.

We next moved on to Area N where we observe the Osprey at the nest  platform
and three boats of fishermen tied up around the platform. They  were
distressing the female to the point she left the nest. Maybe we need a much  bigger
sign, like 4 by 6 feet, and then they will understand that this is not
acceptable behavior. We then continued to more pleasant activity which  included many
more Prothonotary Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers,  Red-headed
Woodpeckers, Wood Thrush, an unbelievably bright Scarlet  Tanager,
Yellow-throated Vireo, Brown Creeper and others.

A break for lunch and we were off to Dustin Road. At Dustin we observed  more
Prothonotary Warblers, Green Heron, an extremely close encounter with a
Cooper's Hawk (do they really pose?), Baltimore Orioles and others. We were  going
to visit Hoover Meadows but the parking lot looked like Kroger's so we
passed and instead did a part of Old Sunbury Road. We next headed to Twin  Bridges
to view Cliff Swallows with very limited success. The wind picked up,  the
swallows headed into the nests for cover and the air looked like a  sandstorm.
Then it began to rain on us and being reasonable we called it a day,  abet a fun
day.

The female Prothonotary Warblers are now back in good numbers and we  located
several sites where nest construction has begun, both natural cavities  and
nest boxes.

Species for the day include:
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Mallard
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve





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