I was committed to volunteer away from the nature preserve this morning so I didn't get out to monitor any blocks until this afternoon. Shaune Skinner joined me and we headed into the back country of Area N at the preserve. Area N currently resembles a maternity ward. There are birds nesting and feeding fledglings everywhere. Some of the fledglings we observed harassing the adults for food were Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Tree Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Wood Thrush and Prothonotary Warbler. We also watched a pair of Red-eyed Vireo’s collecting nest materials and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on her nest. The lack of rain has lowered the water level so much that we were able to walk to areas that in a normal year would have water chest-high. Some of the species we observed today were: Great Blue Heron Green Heron Yellow-billed Cuckoo Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Cliff Swallow Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Wood Thrush Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Northern Parula Prothonotary Warbler 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]