Today Shaune launched the SS Hoover at 7:00 AM as we attempted to monitor the islands and the west shore from Areas H to K at Hoover Reservoir before the heat took over. We located 21 Prothonotary Warbler territories by boat and I added 4, all previously recorded, along Oxbow Road. The morning weather was nice with moderate temperatures and a slight breeze. The lack of rain over the last 5 weeks is taking its toll as the water level is dropping rapidly both making launching the boat and getting close to shore in many areas an interesting exercise. Several times when I phished to determine whether there were any Prothonotary territories nearby we were greeted by a male flying to and hovering next to or over the boat. This gives a different perspective of the species as you get to see field marks without the aid of field glasses. I also located another male with a leg band, making 5 thus far this season. We located a pair of Osprey near White-tailed Deer Island. They flew in and perched in a dead tree with the sun beaming down on them. One had the most vivid white breast that either Shaune or I have seen. We also noted that the number of Double-crested Cormorants summering at Hoover Reservoir seems very high this year. A list of our overall sightings follows. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve SPECIES LIST Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Osprey Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Killdeer Ring-billed Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chimney Swift Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Common Yellowthroat Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole 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]