This morning Judy Richardson and I birded and surveyed for Prothonotary Warblers in Areas M and N of the Hoover Nature Preserve. The Prothonotaries were active everywhere and many put on a show worthy of an Emmy. We had almost 40 males singing on territory and numerous pairs were observed coming and going from their nest boxes. On several occasions we sat down and enjoyed the show as the proud parents went about their duties. Today was the first time this year that I observed adults removing fecal sacs from the nest sites. I might have found this activity last week but I was sidelined by other commitments, assisting with preschooler programs at the Franklin County Metro Parks and the Delaware County Preservation Parks. If you can survive 100+ preschoolers over three days there is nothing the nest box trail can do to slow you down. After a break for lunch Judy had other commitments and I did a solo checking Wiese Road where I added 4 additional nest sites for the day. Some of the species of interest today included: Double-crested Cormorants (immature the stay at Hoover Reservoir all summer) Wood Duck hens with ducklings Osprey (at the platform off the boardwalk at Area M) Yellow-billed Cuckoos Red-headed Woodpeckers Acadian Flycatchers Great Crested Flycatchers Eastern Kingbirds Warbling Vireos Red-eyed Vireos Cliff Swallows (in excellent numbers under most bridges at Hoover Reservoir) Wood Thrush Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Common Yellowthroat Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]