Today Darlene Sillick, Al LaSala and I did some leisurely birding at several sections of the Hoover Nature Preserve in Delaware County. After yesterday’s hectic schedule that included a field trip with the Ohio Young Birders Club, Easter Service in the evening and attacking the home To-Do List, it was time to just meander and relax. We started at Hoover Meadows which is a grassland and wetland area. Brown Thrashers seemed to be the bird of the day as they were everywhere. Other birds at the meadows included Blue-winged Teal, Wild Turkey, Sora, many Ruby-crowned Kinglets; Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, a Fox Sparrow and Swamp Sparrows. The usually reliable resident Red-headed Woodpeckers apparently took the holiday off. We next swung by Miller-Paul Road and picked up a nice colony of Purple Martins. Then we dropped by Mudhen Marsh with our objective being the White-eyed Vireo reported earlier. It was a no show. We did see Gray Catbirds, lots of Gray Catbirds. They have returned in large numbers. Other notables were Brown Thrashers and Yellow Warblers. Generally things were quiet. Our final stop was at the Baldridge Boat Launch where we added Cliff Swallows, 5 Common Loons and a Yellow Warbler. All told we had 53 species as we lulled our way around. Number 54 we enjoyed but is not a legitimate bird, a field with Helmeted Guinea Fowl. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve SPECIES LIST Common Loon Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Blue-winged Teal Red-tailed Hawk Wild Turkey Sora Killdeer Ring-billed Gull Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Blue Jay American Crow Purple Martin Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow ______________________________________________________________________ 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]