Today I had the pleasure to host some friends from the Delaware County
Preservation Parks at The Hoover Nature Preserve. Deer Haven Preserve in the
Preservation Parks is one of the organizations that I volunteer with. A task
that is basically lots of fun as I assist Naturalist Kim Banks with the
ParkPals Preschool programs. Members of the staff, rangers and volunteers met
me  at Area M in Galena and were greeted by a male Prothonotary Warbler that
has a  territory near the entrance to the boardwalk. This guy seems to have
 developed a habit of meeting visiting groups at the gate. This started
with the  Ohio Young Birders Club when they were at the preserve on April 23rd
and today  was the third time he has landed on the boardwalk railing in
front of visitors.

We began by walking to the end of the boardwalk to view the nesting Osprey
at Platform H-2. Dick Tuttle, who was behind erecting the platforms at the
preserve, was with us and he set up a spotting scope so everyone could get
a  great view of the Osprey. Dick has been instrumental in the placement of
nest  platforms for Osprey at Alum Creek Reservoir, Hoover Reservoir and
several  additional sites in central Ohio. Dick has had very good results for
his efforts  and we now have many Osprey nesting where there were none just a
short time ago.  On our way back from the end of the boardwalk we stopped
several times to admire  male Prothonotaries and several other warblers
flitting about in the bushes.  Also seen were American Redstarts, Yellow,
Yellow-rumped, Nashville and  Chestnut-sided Warblers.

Next we walked into Area N along the old road where additional Prothonotary
 Warblers were singing. Many were far back from the road but a few were
using  nest boxes close to the road and were observed entering and exiting nest
boxes.  Likely because the weather was overcast the warblers were much
quieter than  usual but with patience eventually came into view. Baltimore
Orioles were  chasing each other around and splashes of bright orange and black
seemed to be  everywhere.

I next took everyone over to Wiese Road as they wanted to see the new bike
trail. Preservation Parks will be maintaining the bike trail. We walked the
 trail from the east end to where it meets Plumb Road. This section may
prove to  be productive for birding in the future. Time will tell. The trail
skirts my  Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes and hopefully will provide an
easily walked  location for birders in the future. Along the edges of the trail
we observed  numerous Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow
Warblers,  White-eyed Vireos and Indigo Buntings.

After breaking for lunch many of the party left (work does call) but one of
 the staff joined me for a trek through the back areas. We observed
numerous  additional Prothonotaries along the Big Walnut Creek. I also observed
Northern  Parula, Yellow-throated, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided and Louisiana
Waterthrush  along the creek path. We returned by following the water's edge
where I have  nest boxes, stopping every so often to call in a Prothonotary. At
one location  we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a low branch. Our
route took us closer  to it and it sat and watched us for a time. When we were
less than 30 feet away  it finally decided we had seen enough and it flew and
perched on a broken tree  snag slightly further away and appeared to be
studying us. We continued on and  went into the back part of Area M where we
located additional Prothonotary  Warblers.

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve

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