Al LaSala gave me a call earlier in the week and said he had some friends coming from Oregon who happened to be birders and happened to want to see a Prothonotary Warbler. I gladly accepted the opportunity and we set up today to go and see them. I can pretty well promise a Prothonotary Warbler at the Hoover Nature Preserve although I can’t promise to find a House Sparrow. I met Al plus Lew & Marti Ligocki at the entrance to Area N in Galena and we were off and counting. As it turned out I think the Prothonotary Warblers ended up being the top dog for the day. They were everywhere and cooperative. I forgot to distinguish between those observed and those heard so I’ll have to do a rough estimate here. Of the numerous Prothonotary Warblers that made their presence known we had good to outstanding looks at over 20 (could have gone higher but we were trying to nail down several other eastern species for our west coast visitors) and I recorded 47 males singing, 42 in Area N and 5 in Area M. Our hunt for Prothonotary’s was considered successful.
We also had a variety of additional species to make the morning enjoyable for our visitors. Both Ospreys were present at the Area M nest platform. Initially the female was on the nest alone but later the male flew directly over us carrying a branch to add to the nest. In the back waters of Area N we encountered close to a dozen Wood Duck hens and a lone Hooded Merganser hen.  There were a few Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s calling but none came out into the open.  We had the same problem with the Pileated Woodpeckers, heard them but never got a look at them. Flycatchers present included Eastern Wood Pewee, Acadian, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested, and Eastern Kingbird. Warbling Vireos were plentiful and Red-eyed Vireos were fairly abundant. Swallows were represented by Tree, Northern Rough-winged, Bank and Cliff. Wood Thrushes were singing their flute-like call. There were many Gray Catbirds and Cedar Waxwings throughout the area. The Cedar Waxwings were showing mating behavior. I was surprised to only turn up one Yellow-throated Warbler and no Northern Parula’s or Louisiana Waterthrush. The Prothonotaries ruled the roost today. Baltimore Orioles were common and widely disbursed. And of course we had plenty of the normal common suspects. All things considered it was a fun morning to share the preserve with our very pleasant visitors from Oregon.
 
Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve



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