Today Verna Ansel joined me at the Hoover Nature Preserve. Verna is a newer birder and has the prospect of all those new species to discover. I tried to do my part to add some new birds to her new and fun pastime. The day varied from cloudy to sunny, to windy and finally rain, but none of this deterred us from having fun. We began the morning at Oxbow Road where we watched the show present by the Prothonotary Warblers, a show that went on all day. I may not be able to promise someone a House Sparrow, but I am always confident that the Prothonotary Warblers will come through. At Oxbow we observed multiply Baltimore Orioles in their bright orange and black spring outfits and several other species of warblers. We next moved on to Area N where we observe the Osprey at the nest platform and three boats of fishermen tied up around the platform. They were distressing the female to the point she left the nest. Maybe we need a much bigger sign, like 4 by 6 feet, and then they will understand that this is not acceptable behavior. We then continued to more pleasant activity which included many more Prothonotary Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Wood Thrush, an unbelievably bright Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, Brown Creeper and others. A break for lunch and we were off to Dustin Road. At Dustin we observed more Prothonotary Warblers, Green Heron, an extremely close encounter with a Cooper's Hawk (do they really pose?), Baltimore Orioles and others. We were going to visit Hoover Meadows but the parking lot looked like Kroger's so we passed and instead did a part of Old Sunbury Road. We next headed to Twin Bridges to view Cliff Swallows with very limited success. The wind picked up, the swallows headed into the nests for cover and the air looked like a sandstorm. Then it began to rain on us and being reasonable we called it a day, abet a fun day. The female Prothonotary Warblers are now back in good numbers and we located several sites where nest construction has begun, both natural cavities and nest boxes. Species for the day include: Great Blue Heron Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Mallard Osprey Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Killdeer Ring-billed Gull Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Yellow-throated Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Scarlet Tanager Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole American Goldfinch Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]