Today I hosted Judy Richardson at the Hoover Nature Preserve. Judy was interested in seeing some Prothonotary Warblers and they decided to cooperate. We visited 3 of the areas where I have nest boxes with great success. We observed 45 Prothonotary Warblers and heard about an additional 35 singing males. But I think the highlight for Judy was watching the Prothonotary Warblers coming and going from several of the natural cavities. At one location we sat on a well situated log within 25 feet of the nest site and watched the pair at the cavity entrance. Eventually the female entered the cavity and stayed and the male then made repeated trips back to the cavity with insects and entered over half way with his tail sticking out and then left without the insects. It appeared that he was bringing the insects to the female. We were distracted at this location as we were surrounded by about 5 other singing males that kept flying past us. Added to this were the appearance of a male and female Northern Parula, a Cerulean Warbler and a Yellow-throated Warbler. The last and most interesting distraction was when we discovered a Ruby-throated Hummingbird building its nest on a branch of a Sycamore Tree. The area also appears to be home to Red-headed Woodpeckers as we observed a nice individual. Yellow-billed Cuckoos were calling everywhere but we only managed glimpses of a couple of them. We stopped at the bridge at Area I and watched the Cliff Swallows coming and going from under the bridge. Looking down at these birds gives a different perspective and makes you realize how handsome the species is. We also found a Wood Duck hen with her ducklings at Area I. The day was a lot of fun as the weather was comfortable with mild temperatures and a slight breeze. Some species of interest observed included: Double-crested Cormorant (3) Great Blue Heron Green Heron (6) Wood Duck Osprey (2) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (2) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Building nest) Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker (1) Eastern Wood-Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Cliff Swallow Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray catbird Brown Thrasher Cedar Waxwing Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Northern Parula (2) Yellow-throated Warbler (2) Cerulean Warbler (1) Prothonotary Warbler (45) Baltimore Oriole Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve Delorme 58 C (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]