Saturday, Captain Shaune Skinner launched the SS Hoover, our naval  division,
to check for prothonotary warbler activity on the islands and other  hard to
access locations. Al LaSala joined us as my guest and we headed out  hunting
for birds. Initially we planned to begin at 7:30 AM, but with thunder  showers,
lightning and pouring rain, we delayed our start until noon. Activity  was
somewhat quieter than expected, but still it was steady and we birded  on.

Prothonotary Warblers were spread wide and far and my count for the areas  we
covered was 21 territories. The big concern though is the high water level at
 Hoover Reservoir. My nest boxes are all safely above the water, but it
appears  that some of the lower nest sites in natural cavities have been flooded
out. How  bad a hit they took is yet to be determined as I will need to make the
rounds to  check the low nest sites I previously located. They are still
better off than  the birds in Iowa. The fauna in Iowa must be taking a horrible
hit from the  floods there.

Some species observed were in good numbers, including Belted Kingfishers,
Double-crested Cormorants, Cedar Waxwings, Cliff Swallows, Bank Swallows,
Rough-winged Swallows, Green herons and Great Crested Flycatchers.

A few other highlights were 3 Forster's Terns that did a fly-around  the boat
before heading toward the north end, Osprey, Acadian Flycatchers and  Eastern
Kingbirds. We were teased by a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that called but  stayed
in the thick flora.

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve






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