Once again we launched the H.M.S. Hoover to monitor the Prothonotary Warbler Activity at Hoover Reservoir. Today was our splendid captain Shaune’s birthday. Along with the crew of Andy and myself, the birds decided to make it a great birthday for her. We set sail from Oxbow Road and made a quick check on the Bald Eagle nest. Last night the area had a 3” downpour and I wanted to see how the eaglets fared. One was under a large bough of the cottonwood tree and looking unfazed. The other was on the edge of their island with its wings spread somewhat like a cormorant and it looked totally disgusted. But all is basically good at the nest and both adults were observed near or at the nest. We then set out to give in-depth coverage to the northeast shoreline area. We located 20 Prothonotary Warbler territories and observed the first fledglings. The adults were busy bringing food to their brood who were begging with no pride, just hungry demands. We observed several families of fledglings. The pale patchy colors on the juveniles gave little hint of the brilliant colors to come later, nature’s way of protecting the young when they are so vulnerable. Prothonotary Warbler hatchlings will be fledging their nests like popcorn at a theater beginning this week. As of today we have 171 identified territories at Hoover in 2013. All through the breeding season water levels and other conditions have been almost perfect at Hoover Reservoir and it will be a banner year barring any unexpected severe weather. Red-headed Woodpeckers are also doing great at The Hoover Nature Preserve. We discovered several new nest sites today bring the total to 17 nesting pairs. These beautiful woodpeckers put on a show for us today with flyovers, posing on the trunk or branches of their nest tree, and their neat behavior of flying out to catch an insect in the air like a flycatcher and returning to their high perch. I could watch this showboating all day long as it really shows off their brilliant coloration of bright red, glossy black and brilliant white. Next on the hit parade were Yellow-billed Cuckoos. We saw 7 in all but one individual stood out above the rest. Yellow-billed Cuckoos are supposed to skulk furtively in dense growth and be hard to see. It displayed for us, extending its wing down and out to show off the rufous coloration, it landed on a low bush right in front of us and proceeded to foraged right in front of us for a very long time. This bird was a show stopper all onto itself. Shaune’s keen eye caught sight of some movement at the water’s edge and out came Hooded Merganser juveniles. They hugged the shore until they found a better place to hide. This is the second location where we have observed evidence of nesting Hooded Mergansers this season. Always a pleasant surprise. A pair of Great Egrets did a flyover along the west shore near Plumb Road and we saw several Spotted Sandpipers between Area K and Area I as we worked our way south. Many species are now feeding young and activity was constant all morning and into the early afternoon. Even as spring turns to summer, birding can be productive and enjoyable with a little thought as to where to go. Charlie Bombaci, for Shaune, Andy and myself from the Hoover Nature Preserve. SPECIES LIST Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Hooded Merganser Osprey Bald Eagle Red-tailed Hawk Spotted Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Herring 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 Acadian Flycatcher 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 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole 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]