Some days the sun shines down on
you and everything goes right, or even better. I met with ODNR at the Oxbow
Road section of the Hoover Nature Preserve this morning to do a brief interview
about the Prothonotary Warbler nest box trail and for them to take pictures and
video of some Prothonotary Warblers. Well, I have to believe some of them carry
actors guild cards because this morning upon aiming cameras in their direction
they opened their show and never let up. The pair in my nest box X-8 was the
marquee act. The female is currently on the nest incubating eggs and generally
does not make an appearance until late morning or early afternoon. Not to worry
though as the male was going for the Oscar. He made numerous trips to the nest
box bringing caterpillars for his mate, popping his head in and coming out sans
the offering. She apparently has him around her wing feathers. He then would
perch near the nest box and sing his “sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet” from a branch
on the nearby black willow tree, or the nearby maple tree or from a low branch
over the water as he looked at his own image. I’d call him self-centered except
he is so brilliantly colored in his golden-yellow plumage that when the
sunlight hit his breast it was like opening night on Broadway. For the two and
one-half hours I was at Oxbow Road this morning he constantly sang.
     Later we walked the shore on
Oxbow Island so I could open and check several nest boxes to demonstrate my
procedure for monitoring my nest boxes. Usually I do this in the afternoon to
lessen the chance of disturbing the female as she incubates her eggs. Today was
a rare exception to the general rule. The first box I opened contained a Tree
Swallow nestled down on her clutch. Tree Swallows are a competitor for nest
boxes and natural cavities but are better behaved than House Wrens. She looked
up at me but stayed on the nest and I quickly closed the box and moved on. The
next box was at the edge of the neighboring Prothonotary Warbler’s territory.
He sang from a branch overhead and then dropped to a buttonbush branch right in
front of us and provided Act II of the Oxbow Road Review. He seeing the camera
(they have to know) went into an I’m cute routine and provided poses for
numerous pictures. A third Prothonotary Warbler on the far side of the island
sang begging for his share of attention. ODNR hoped for some good pictures. I
think the camera’s memory card got a workout.
     ODNR wanted to do a brief
interview with me (didn’t anyone tell them I can talk endlessly?) so they set
up their microphone and we began. Not easy when trying to tape a birder.
Distractions are plentiful at Oxbow Road. For example, Green Herons doing a
flyover, Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanager, Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling
Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow Warbler and a family of Blue-gray
Gnatcatchers, all while standing in front of the video camera in the parking
lot. We did manage to do the tape. They indicated that the edited edition will
be on the ODNR Social Media web site, their Face Book page beginning early next
week. I sure the birds will look and sound better than me. I also manage to
collect 50 gallons of trash this morning so I’ll call it a very productive and
fun morning.
Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve

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