This morning I had the pleasure to host Christ Tonra and his lovely wife and son at the Hoover Nature Preserve. They have just moved to central Ohio from the Washington, D. C. area. Chris has joined the faculty at The Ohio State University and one of his interests is studying the ranges and life cycles of Prothonotary Warblers. I have a feeling I will see a lot of Chris when the Hoover Prothonotaries return next spring.
I showed Chris around Areas M & N to give him an idea of the habitat at the north end of Hoover Reservoir. We began at the boardwalk where we watched several Osprey soaring overhead and Great Egrets working the shoreline. Only Ring-billed and a few Herring Gulls were on the boardwalk rail. Double-crested Cormorants were on every available snag in the water off the boardwalk. Chimney Swifts were working th esky overhead and chattering away. The water level still has not receded enough to expose mud flats off the boardwalk and we did not even see a Killdeer.
Back in Area M things were more interesting. The water has receded from the slightly elevated areas and I'll finally be able to begin the task of cleaning and maintenance of the nest boxes. Warblers were sparse and we only saw American Redstart, Black and White and Blackpoll.  Woodpeckers included Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy and Hairy. Along Big Walnut Creek we observed Belted Kingfisher, Green Heron and a Wood Duck. A Pewee was feeding its fledglings and nearby were Phoebes, and a Great Crested Flycatcher. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird flew in to make a quick appearance for us and an adult Bald Eagle made several flyovers. A few Warbling Vireo's are still hanging around. Numerous flocks of Cedar Waxwings were moving through the trees feeding on the ripe berries. A pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos were feeding in the canopy over us. They were surprisingly cooperative for a species known as sulkers.
Now, if it doesn't rain I'll begin my annul crusade to clean and do maintenance of the nest boxes.

Charlie Bombaci
Hoover Nature Preserve

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


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