Today was another workday at the Hoover Nature Preserve. With the assistance of some great friends we cleaned and did maintenance on the nest boxes located in the Old Sunbury Road area. During the past week, often with help, I have cleaned and serviced nest boxes at Mudhen Marsh, Oxbow Road, Wiese Road, Dustin Road, Areas M and N in Galena and Old Sunbury Road. I still need to install a few replacement nest boxes in these areas and re-number the boxes, but as a whole we have made much progress and only three major areas remain to be covered.

This was the first time helping with the nest boxes for a few of the individuals. A new awakening to nature for some as they got to watch Deer Mice jump over tall people with a single bound; Deer Mice look at them with big soft eyes pleading for them not to pull their warm nest from the nest box; Wolf Spiders the size of Mini Coopers; and soft mud that devour boots. Then there was the steeplechase competition. This is where you try to negotiate over large fallen trees with a back pack. Reminds me of my Army training. No one suggested nominating this as a new National pastime. We had Prothonotary Warbler nests in 12 nest boxes and in some of the other boxes there were Tree Swallow and House Wren nests. Only two nest boxes had a House Wren nest. This is a good statistic as the House Wrens are a major problem along many nest box trails.

The gang earned extra points as they policed trash as we went along. By the time we finished everyone looked like a Santa Claus escapee from a homeless shelter.

They did receive some rewards from nature. We observed 6 Bald Eagles, ranging from two full adults to what were likely the juveniles from this year's nest at the preserve. There were numerous Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets feeding on the shore and edge of sand ridges exposed in the water. Red-headed Woodpeckers made an appearance along with a few Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers. Other than American Robins and Carolina Wrens the songbirds were mostly missing. Warblers were AWOL as we did not see a single bird.

The mudflats at and near Pelican Island are now exposed. None of us had our field glasses with us and because of this only the noisy Killdeer were identified. There were many shorebirds near the water and some up in the area away from the water. All were small peeps but that is the best I can say for lack of optics. The equipment backpacks were enough to handle by themselves but a return trip with a scope is in my plans. This is good habitat to look form Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers among others.

A very big thank you to everyone who has helped with the nest boxes. I sincerely appreciate your help and your company. A big gold star for you.

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve

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