This morning Linda and I began by checking Area N at the north end of Hoover Reservoir near Galena for damage to the nest boxes from the storms earlier in the week. Only one casualty confirmed as the back of nest box N-15 was still attached but the rest of the box was gone. Earlier I worked with a local boy scout to install five new territories bringing the Prothonotary Warbler Nest Box Trail to 201 boxes. Knock off the one taken out this week by the falling tree and we will start the season with an even 200 nest boxes at the preserve. While back in Area N we observed numerous Wood Ducks, the Osprey at the platform, a raft of over 200 Double-crested Cormorants, many Tree Swallows and 17 Bonaparte's Gulls in breeding plumage. Next we headed to Hoover Meadows to walk the trails and do some easy birding. The signs of spring migration greeted us almost at once as the front pond had both Blue-winged Teal and Green-Winged Teal. As we headed to the back ponds we counted 7 Eastern Meadowlarks, 5 Brown Thrashers, 4 Eastern Towhees, 2 Hermit Thrushes, Swamp Sparrows, Field Sparrows, a Savannah Sparrow and Rusty Blackbirds. In the back two ponds we located nice groups of Blue-winged Teal and Green-winged Teal, then we had a flyover by a flock of about 75 Bonaparte's Gulls. Maybe the migration is finally going to get interesting. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve Delorme 58 (2) & (3) ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]