This morning I checked the activity around Area N of the Hoover Nature Preserve to determine the water level so I could get an idea of when I might begin cleaning the nest boxes and also to see if any mudflats were beginning to emerge. The water levels look more like spring than fall at the north end of Hoover Reservoir and unless we get a prolonged dry spell it appears that shorebirds will be best hunted elsewhere. There were about 12 Spotted Sandpipers and 1 Killdeer along the edge of the reservoir but nothing else. In normal years large mudflats would already be emerging and shorebirds would be present at the cove along Dustin Road, off Wiese Road, Area M, Area N and along the east shore near Pelican Island.



I also determined that I need to wait before beginning to clean my nest boxes as Linda and I watched adult Prothonotary Warblers frantically feeding hatchlings still in the nest at Area N. There may be as many as 4 pairs feeding young just in the area close to the old roadbed. Last year I located a pair feeding their fledglings along Big Walnut Creek during the first week of August which is extremely late this far north. This year that number will definitely be at least 4 pairs feeding fledglings in early August as they are still in the nest as of July 24th. Could this be an indicator of global warming?



I discovered the first Prothonotary Warbler fledglings this year on June 12th in Area L of the preserve. The last fledglings, from the nests I observe
d today, are estimated to occur sometime between July 25th and July 31st. This appears to be too late for a re nesting attempt caused by the loss of a first nesting attempt, but rather implies to me that there are second broods in the works. At more southern latitudes in the southeast two broods are common, but in central Ohio they are unusual although they do occur.



Linda and I found some other nice surprises in Area N this morning even though we merely walked the old roadbed rather than wander into the back forty. That’s going to require my hip boots, not the canvass sneakers we had on. Among the other more interesting finds were a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers feeding their brood at a natural cavity not 20 feet off the roadbed, Yellow-throated Warblers, Great Egrets, Osprey, Green Herons, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Purple Martins, and Cliff Swallows.



Charlie Bombaci

Hoover Nature Preserve

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