This afternoon I monitored the Old Sunbury Road sector of the Prothonotary Warbler Nest Box Trail. There are 17 singing males along this stretch. Thus far I have located the nest site for 9 of the territories. One male seemed more inquisitive of me than I of him. I managed to take 14 shots of him before the Deer Flies began harassing me. This particular nest is in a natural cavity with a clean line to the entrance. In all I observed 21 Prothonotary Warblers this afternoon. The water level is up considerably which was an inconvenience as I had my knee high waders and I could have used my hip boots. There was a surprising amount of activity for the afternoon. I was in the area from about 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM, a time period that can be slow. There were several species with their young close behind or begging including Canada Geese, Mallards, Wood Ducks, American Robins, Song Sparrows and Chipping Sparrows. The crows did right by me as they harassed a Barred Owl from its perch and right past me. The downside was the appearance of the Deer Flies and the first mosquitoes, but out came my insect repellent and it was a draw. Species observed include: Double-crested Cormorant (about 75 near Pelican Island) Great Blue Heron Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Geese and Young Wood Ducks and young Mallard and young Blue-winged Teal (2 laggards?) Osprey Cooper’s Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Spotted Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Barred Owl Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Louisiana Waterthrush (Nesting Pair) Common Yellowthroat Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow (including adult feeding cowbird fledgling) Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow 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]