This morning four intrepid souls, myself being one, waged war on the trash fishermen littered throughout Areas M and N at the Hoover Nature Preserve. Based on the “30-gallon garbage bag base system” we removed somewhere in the 300 gallons of garbage range. As we went about our task distractions were plentiful. How do you not pause and admire a male Prothonotary Warbler singing in the sun? A rough calculation put the total in the 50 territory range. It almost seemed they were singing in joy for the clean-up of their habitat. Females were less prevalent, likely because many are incubating their eggs, however some were observed along with the males bringing food to hatchlings in the nest boxes and cavities. Other bird species of interest observed or heard this morning include Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-headed Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting and Baltimore Oriole. As we worked our way around Area N we saw several White-tailed Deer fawns. They are still fairly tiny and can quickly disappear into the flora. Their tawny coloring and white spots make exceptional camouflage and if not careful you can come close to stepping on one as they instinctively freeze in place among the grass and other plants. 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]