Members of the Ohio Young Birders Clubs from Oak Harbor and Columbus participated in their April field trip, Spring Fling in Central Ohio. Their day got off to an inauspicious start when Greenlawn Cemetery, a usually productive spring birding site, produced one (1) warbler, a Black-throated Green. They did have a few good birds including a Red-breasted Nuthatch, but activity was slow. Their intrepid leaders, Darlene Sillick and Joe Meara were not helped by the weather conditions. After lunch at the Grange Audubon Center they headed north to meet me at the Hoover Nature Preserve. The first car arrived about 15 minutes ahead of the others. The proverb “ the early bird gets the worm” got a rewrite to “the early birders get the cooperative Prothonotary Warbler.” While we waited for the others I heard a male Prothonotary calling from near the board walk. The two kids walked out on the boardwalk with me. After encouragement via phishing a brilliantly colored male Prothonotary Warbler flew in and landed, where else, on the boardwalk railing. After flitting around to make sure we appreciated him, he was joined by a male Yellow Warbler and a male Yellow-rumped Warbler. A nice start but unfortunately it was still just the three of us. The remainder of the group arrived and we walked out to the end of the boardwalk where everyone watched the resident pair of Osprey. An immature Bald Eagle flew into the Osprey “No Fly Zone” and got a greeting from the male Osprey. The eagle headed elsewhere where it wouldn't get harassed. Other birds observed from the boardwalk included many Double-crested Cormorants, a Caspian Tern among the Ring-billed Gulls, and a male Wood Duck. I wanted to take the group into the back of Area N for Prothonotary Warblers and other resident species. The unusually high water made the usual route impractical so I did a flanking maneuver and took them along the high ground. Almost immediately we encountered two or three Northern Parula. Soon we began hearing the “sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet” call of Prothonotary Warblers. In all we saw or heard about 15 PROWs. A few other species that the kids enjoyed were Red-headed Woodpecker, a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers at their nest cavity, an Eastern Kingbird, Yellow-throated Warbler, a Pine Warbler, Spotted Sandpiper and numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers. Back at the parking lot Darlene added a Black & White Warbler. Sunshine would have been nice but still it appears that everyone had a good time and saw some nice birds. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve SPECIES LIST Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Osprey Bald Eagle Red-tailed Hawk American Coot Spotted Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Caspian Tern Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Blue-gray Gnatcatcher American Robin European Starling Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Pine Warbler Black & White Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle ______________________________________________________________________ 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]