This morning we launched the H.M.S. Hoover to conduct monitoring of the Prothonotary Warblers at the Hoover Nature Preserve. Our area of coverage consisted of Area K, Area L and Little Walnut Creek. Last Sunday we covered Big Walnut Creek and tallied 31 PROW territories. Today we tallied 37 PROW territories. Along much of Little Walnut Creek we were almost constantly hearing the "Sweet, Sweet, Sweet, Sweet" song of the males. Almost most obliged us and came out to show off and sing for us. For me this is the ideal way to spent a morning. The Prothonotary Warblers are in excellent numbers in every area I have surveyed thus far. To add to our morning's delight we had 16 Red-headed Woodpeckers. We watched them at their nest holes. In the morning sunlight they were a stunning sight. We located 4 new nest sites that I was not previously aware of. If all the old sites, and so far it appears that way, are still active, we have 20 active Red-headed Woodpecker pairs. A few other highlights for the morning were: A hen Ruddy Duck. We found her just floating around on the reservoir. Likely a procrastinator still going north. The Bald Eagle nest is doing great. The eaglets are getting bigger and constantly showing about the rim of the nest. We observed 8 Spotted Sandpipers. Most were in pairs. There were more Herring Gulls than usual. They were on logs in the water, the boardwalk and swimming near the others. One Caspian Tern was joined by 10 Common Terns. In addition to the Red-headed Woodpeckers we had several Pileated Woodpeckers. The show stopper here was the adult feeding hatchlings at a nest hole. When the adult left to look for more offerings the little ones stuck their heads out and begged for more. The Cliff Swallows were attending their nests under the Old 3C Highway into Galena. A Canada Warbler along the edge of Little Walnut Creek near the Route 3 bridge. A great morning in all spent with great company. My big salute to Shaune for all the terrific help she has been. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve Total list for the morning follows: Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Ruddy Duck Osprey Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Spotted Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Caspian Tern Common tern Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Olive-sided Flycatcher Eastern Wood-Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo 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 House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Canada Warbler Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak 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. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]