Today  I had the pleasure of sharing the golden jewels of the Hoover Nature 
Preserve  with Leslie Sours. This was her first visit to the preserve and 
after this  morning I doubt it will be her last.  
Things  started slowly and I feared my guys and gals were not going to 
cooperate, but  then the world around us turned golden-yellow and the rest of 
the morning we  were always within sight and sound of Prothonotary Warblers. 
My conservative  tally was 41 males. The females were busy with maternal 
duties in the nest boxes  and cavities. Sometimes I think some of the males are 
hams at heart as they seem  to go out of their way to show off when I have 
guests at the preserve. We  observed them singing high and low; foraging in 
the trees and bushes; gleaning  insects from near the water’s surface; and 
chasing intruders from their  territory, including one bold male that chased 
off a Red-bellied  Woodpecker. 
We  walked to the end of the boardwalk to watch the Osprey. The female was 
there and  the hatchlings were low and hidden. The male flew in with his 
catch and up  popped three small heads. The triplets vied for their share and 
ate with vigor  and a general lack of table manners. The male then flew off 
and as we walked  back along the boardwalk on our way to the parking lot the 
male swooped down in  the inlet next to the boardwalk and came up with a 
fish. Later from the  advantage of Area N we watched one of the hatchlings rise 
and flap his wings.  Someday in the future it will lift off from the nest 
platform and begin its  exploration of the world around it. 
I  then began Leslie's tour of the back-forty. We donned boots and began 
down the  old roadbed stopping at the vernal pool to watch the resident PROW 
as he  patrolled his territory. As we reached the edge of the reservoir we 
were soon  surrounded by singing PROWs as we proceeded to where the path was 
underwater. We  then headed off-trail following my nest box trail into the 
swamp forest with  PROWs singing everywhere. We were disrupted by 
Yellow-billed Cuckoos that mostly  teased us as they moved around in the dense foliage. 
We then heard crows  sounding off as they were mobbing something ahead of 
us. It turned out to be a  Barred Owl that alit from its perch and made a run 
for it with the crows close  behind. Leslie then spotted some activity above 
us that turned out to be a pair  of amorous Great Crested Flycatchers. They 
provided us with great views as they  came even closer to us. They are 
beautiful birds that all too often are hidden  in the upper branches. As we got 
deeper into the back section of Area N the  PROWs got thicker and continued 
to put on a delightful show for  us. 
Leslie  spotted activity in a tree ahead of us and discovered a Tufted 
Titmouse bringing  food to its nest cavity. Near them we found Red-bellied 
Woodpecker feeding their  fledglings. There was considerable other activity 
around us and we finished with  a nice group of birds for the morning and I have 
listed them  below. 
Charlie  Bombaci 
Hoover  Nature Preserve   
SPECIES  LIST 
Double-crested  Cormorant 
Great  Blue Heron 
Green  Heron 
Turkey  Vulture 
Canada  Goose 
Wood  Duck 
Mallard 
Osprey 
Mourning  Dove 
Yellow-billed  Cuckoo 
Barred  Owl 
Red-headed  Woodpecker 
Red-bellied  Woodpecker 
Downy  Woodpecker 
Eastern  Wood-Pewee 
Acadian  Flycatcher 
Willow  Flycatcher 
Eastern  Phoebe 
Great  Crested Flycatcher 
Warbling  Vireo 
Red-eyed  Vireo 
Blue  Jay 
American  Crow 
Tree  Swallow 
Northern  Rough-winged Swallow 
Carolina  Chickadee 
Tufted  Titmouse 
White-breasted  Nuthatch 
Blue-gray  Gnatcatcher 
Wood  Thrush 
American  Robin 
Gray  Catbird 
European  Starling 
Prothonotary  Warbler 
Song  Sparrow 
Northern  Cardinal 
Indigo  Bunting 
Red-winged  Blackbird 
Common  Grackle 
Baltimore  Oriole 
American  Goldfinch

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]