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May 2011

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Fri, 27 May 2011 19:25:36 -0400
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I'm beginning to think Ohio has a monsoon season. How else to explain  the
amount of rain for the months of April and May. I have found both advantages
 and disadvantages to this trend as I monitor my nest box trail at the
north end  of Hoover Reservoir. The Prothonotary Warblers using nest boxes
benefit from the  high water level as it deters most predators, the exception
being northern water  snakes. Those using natural cavities have a mixed bag. If
they use an old  woodpecker cavity they remain high and dry, but some chose
low snags, and  several of these have been flooded out. It is early enough
that they will likely  try again. For me it makes it more difficult to slog
through the backwaters as I  can't see where all the downed trees are, the
water is deeper and the flora is  growing so fast and large that I think they
are on steroids. Surprisingly I'm  encountering fewer mosquitos rather than
more. Apparently the water is too high  and has too much current for them
to breed.

Today I checked my boxes at Mudhen Marsh, Oxbow Road and made a stop  at
Hoover Meadows. Most of the boxes at Mudhen Marsh are on the north  side of
Big Walnut Road with a few along the channel on the south side. The  wooded
area is almost completely under water and I found several Prothonotaries
using old woodpecker cavities far from the normal water's edge of the reservoir.
 Many of the forest nesters I normally encounter here were totally absent.
I made  a quick visit to the south side of Big Walnut Road, this is the
section the  public usually visits, and I observed a nice selection of species
there.  Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Yellow-billed
Cuckoo,  Red-headed Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-throated
Vireo,  White-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting and Scarlet Tanager.

Oxbow Road continues to be overrun with fishermen. Prothonotary Warbler
numbers appear to be down from averaging 6 to 8 pairs annually at this site to
 only three singing males today. I've never seen so many people here in the
past.  There is constant encroachment on the nest boxes and Oxbow Road may
never be as  easy for finding Prothonotaries as it has been in the past. The
road had many  Gray Catbirds, Baltimore Orioles, Warbling Vireos and a few
Yellow Warblers,  Common Yellowthroats and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo made an
appearance.

Hoover Meadows made the day interesting. The trail is home to a very slick
fungus. Walking on it was like walking on a greased board. I walked the
path  back to the third pond and back. The highlights were a Black-billed
Cuckoo at  the break from the first to the second field and an Olive-sided
Flycatcher  perched in the bare tree near the second pond. Some other species
observed  included Red-headed Woodpecker, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow warbler,
Blue-winged  Warbler, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlark; Savannah, Field,
Swamp, Song and  a lone Lincoln's Sparrows, Willow and Acadian Flycatcher,
and Orchard  Oriole.

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve

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