This morning I had the fun of taking a new birder, John Marcos, to see
Prothonotary Warblers at the Hoover Nature Preserve. John met me at my place
and  we headed to Oxbow Road which has the closest of my nest boxes to the
house. As  soon as I opened the car door the first sound was
"sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet." It  took all of two minutes to score a "lifer" for John. In spite
of the fishing  activity the Prothonotaries were fairly active. In the short
time we spent at  Oxbow I located 4 males on territory and a pair at their
natural cavity nest  site. Other birds (I do occasionally look at other birds
-- honest) at Oxbow  included numerous Baltimore Orioles and Gray Catbirds,
and fewer Common  Yellow-throats, Yellow Warblers and Warbling Vireos.

I next took John to Area N in Galena. We remained on the main path and did
not venture into the back 40. From the first vernal pool to the deep water
break  in the trail we scored 11 more Prothonotaries. I phished to bring one
in closer  for John and it landed within 6 feet of him, then proceeded to
alternate between  foraging and singing. This male was pure ham strutting his
stuff much to John's  delight. Other species of note along this section
were Baltimore Orioles,  Warbling Vireos, Eastern Kingbird and the Osprey who
were both at the platform  as the hatchlings were being fed.

The final swing was Vans Valley and Miller Paul Roads. A Ring-necked
Pheasant crossed in front of the car and almost became dinner on Vans Valley
Road. At Miller-Paul Road I took John to a location where he could view Purple
Martins (many) and Cliff Swallows (just a few). It is interesting to find
Cliff  Swallows at this location which is not the habitat you would expect
them to be  found at. It is easy to overlook something like this as there are
Barn Swallows  present, but when both perch on the same wire you quickly
realize that you have  a two-for for your bird list.

Charlie Bombaci

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