I spent the morning in the back parts of Areas M and N cleaning nest boxes as the mud has dried enough that I can walk on most of it without sinking. There are 46 nest boxes in the areas where I did cleaning and maintenance during the morning. Of these 20 contained Prothonotary Warbler nests (5 had one unhatched egg each), 13 had Tree Swallow nests, 9 had House Wren nests, one had an Eastern Bluebird nest and only 3 boxes weren't used. This is one housing market that's bubble hasn't burst! During the breeding season I also located 28 active Prothonotary Warbler nest cavities in Area N, which tallies a remarkable 48 nesting pairs of Prothonotary Warblers there in 2008. The area also hosted 3 nesting pairs of Red-headed Woodpeckers, at least 7 pairs of Northern Parula, 3 pairs of Yellow-throated Warblers, 3 pairs of Louisiana Waterthrush, several Green Heron nets, a pair of Great Horned Owls, a pair of Barred Owls, and one nesting female Hooded Merganser. I figure there are Eastern Screech Owls to be found there, but alas, they've eluded me so far. As I came back onto the old roadbed and started back to the car, I did a quick check of the mudflats between the roadbed and the boardwalk. The peeps are increasing in number and variety. There were Killdeer (30+), Semipalmated Plovers (7), Greater (4) and Lesser Yellowlegs (5), Solitary Sandpiper (2), Spotted Sandpiper (5), Semipalmated Sandpiper (8), Least Sandpiper (15+), Pectoral Sandpiper (2), Stilt Sandpiper (1), and Short-billed Dowitcher (1). There numbers aren't impressive, but at least we are finally seeing some signs of the migration. Other birds of note were 5 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 6 Great Egrets, 4 Osprey, and 3 Caspian Terns. 121 nest boxes cleaned, 129 to go. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here. (http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]