I took advantage of weather comfortable enough to work to visit Wiese Road and assess the extent of the damage to this section of my nest box trail. As with the other sections I have been able to check, Wiese Road took a hard hit from the strong summer storms. Like Area L, Wiese Road experienced an almost 33 percent nest box loss. The strong winds snapped trees in the middle or torn off branches, which then zeroed in like a guided missile on the nearest nest box. Where a direct hit was made it looked like the nest box had exploded. There were few large pieces left. Viewing the nest boxes after a hit I pondered what the cost was to the resident bird population. They obviously would have sought cover, but then the cover didn't fare so well. The Prothonotary Warblers were at the point where many hatchlings were just fledging from the nest. For the initial time after fledging they generally stay fairly low and in dense cover, but then they head high into the canopy over the area which would seem to make then susceptible to the fierce winds of the storm in late June. Although I wish I had an exact accounting of how badly they suffered, I think I'm better off not knowing. As of now I am estimating a loss of approximately 50 nest boxes. I have my work cut out this fall to clean, do maintenance on, and replace nest boxes, beyond anything experience over the last 27 years working with the nest boxes at Hoover. Margaret Bowman recently emailed me about the devastation at Dawes Arboretum. I could sense the tears in her eyes from simply reading the email. Central Ohio's losses from the storm were terrible. On a somewhat more upbeat note, while at Wiese Road the signs of nature's strength were on display. The mudflats were filled with Great Blue Herons (est. of 50-60), Great Egrets (22), and shorebirds. I had tools rather than a spotting scope so an ID of any shorebird not close was next to impossible. Based on their size and where they were, in from the water or at the water's edge, I estimate a wide variety were present. At the normal water's edge, now brush to plow through to get to nest boxes, we counted 5 Red-headed Woodpeckers and an assortment of Wood Warblers. Those close enough for ID included American Redstarts, Black-throated Greens and about 4 or 5 in fall plumage that flitted by while I was balancing on a log to check a nest box, thus giving me the choice of try to lift my field glasses and levitate or be smart and hold on. The latter seemed the better choice. 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]