Today I had the pleasure to host some friends from the Delaware County Preservation Parks at The Hoover Nature Preserve. Deer Haven Preserve in the Preservation Parks is one of the organizations that I volunteer with. A task that is basically lots of fun as I assist Naturalist Kim Banks with the ParkPals Preschool programs. Members of the staff, rangers and volunteers met me at Area M in Galena and were greeted by a male Prothonotary Warbler that has a territory near the entrance to the boardwalk. This guy seems to have developed a habit of meeting visiting groups at the gate. This started with the Ohio Young Birders Club when they were at the preserve on April 23rd and today was the third time he has landed on the boardwalk railing in front of visitors. We began by walking to the end of the boardwalk to view the nesting Osprey at Platform H-2. Dick Tuttle, who was behind erecting the platforms at the preserve, was with us and he set up a spotting scope so everyone could get a great view of the Osprey. Dick has been instrumental in the placement of nest platforms for Osprey at Alum Creek Reservoir, Hoover Reservoir and several additional sites in central Ohio. Dick has had very good results for his efforts and we now have many Osprey nesting where there were none just a short time ago. On our way back from the end of the boardwalk we stopped several times to admire male Prothonotaries and several other warblers flitting about in the bushes. Also seen were American Redstarts, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Nashville and Chestnut-sided Warblers. Next we walked into Area N along the old road where additional Prothonotary Warblers were singing. Many were far back from the road but a few were using nest boxes close to the road and were observed entering and exiting nest boxes. Likely because the weather was overcast the warblers were much quieter than usual but with patience eventually came into view. Baltimore Orioles were chasing each other around and splashes of bright orange and black seemed to be everywhere. I next took everyone over to Wiese Road as they wanted to see the new bike trail. Preservation Parks will be maintaining the bike trail. We walked the trail from the east end to where it meets Plumb Road. This section may prove to be productive for birding in the future. Time will tell. The trail skirts my Prothonotary Warbler nest boxes and hopefully will provide an easily walked location for birders in the future. Along the edges of the trail we observed numerous Great Crested Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow Warblers, White-eyed Vireos and Indigo Buntings. After breaking for lunch many of the party left (work does call) but one of the staff joined me for a trek through the back areas. We observed numerous additional Prothonotaries along the Big Walnut Creek. I also observed Northern Parula, Yellow-throated, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided and Louisiana Waterthrush along the creek path. We returned by following the water's edge where I have nest boxes, stopping every so often to call in a Prothonotary. At one location we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a low branch. Our route took us closer to it and it sat and watched us for a time. When we were less than 30 feet away it finally decided we had seen enough and it flew and perched on a broken tree snag slightly further away and appeared to be studying us. We continued on and went into the back part of Area M where we located additional Prothonotary Warblers. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve ______________________________________________________________________ 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]