This morning Linda joined me as I monitored the Prothonotary Warblers in Area N of the Hoover Nature Preserve. It was a pleasant day with mild temperatures and little wind or humidity. From the moment I opened the car door I began hearing the delightful “sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet” call of the males. As we walked down the old roadbed we were met by the official welcomers at the vernal pool on the right. Both resident males presented themselves for a sing-off. Farther down the road the males were singing everywhere. We walked to the point where the water is currently over the trail, counting an additional 7 males singing. We observed 5 of the males and 2 females. This section of Area N was badly damaged by the ice storm in December 2005 and many of the trees were uprooted and much of the canopy was lost. Now the Prothonotary Warblers in this section are generally farther back from the roadbed than before when they were right on top of you when you walked this area. From here we went off-trail to the back 40 where the majority of my nest boxes are located in Area N. Everywhere was the sound of singing male Prothonotary Warblers. I located 19males and 8 females and heard many more. We enjoyed watching the adults make repeated sorties to nest boxes and natural cavities with insects and caterpillars. There are numerous nest sites that already have hatchlings. All indications are that this will be another good year for the Prothonotaries. The first indication was back on April 26th when I led a field trip for an Ohio Young Birder’s Club Chapter and we had so much activity, much of it close, and the youngsters began taking pictures of the Prothonotary warblers with their cell phones. As Linda and I were working the area we had several other interesting and unusual observations. We located a very young white-tailed deer fawn, which makes 3 during my last two trips in this area. We kept our distance and took an indirect route to go around the fawn. Next, I located an active Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest for the second straight year in Area N. Like last year, the new nest was constructed in a tree branch that hangs out over Big Walnut Creek. The final observation, and the one I found most unusual, was a Common Grackle catching fish. I had never heard of this type of behavior by the species, never mind observed it before. I initially though the grackle was starting to wade into shallow water to take a bath. Then it suddenly it lunged its head down to the water and came up with a fish about 5 inches long. The grackle then smacked the fish against a log on shore and then flew off with it. After I got home I reviewed my reference materials but I didn’t find any references to this behavior. If anyone has experience or references to this behavior I would be interested in it. You can email me direct rather than post on the Ohio Birds web site. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]