Today Ruth Richards joined me for a day of birding at the Hoover Nature Preserve. The day began with nice weather but later got summer hot. The activity was mixed with periods of little or no activity which changed to moderately active. We began the morning at Oxbow Road and then continued on to Wiese Road and Area N before breaking to eat. We lunched at the overlook gazebo near the Little Walnut Creek trestle which provided us with a shaded spot and birds to serenade us. From there we visited Hoover Meadows until we had to break due to it getting hot and my dental appointment (rather be birding). Our highlight was the finishing flurry at Hoover Meadows that included a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that could only be described as showing off as it stayed in the open, in sunlight and did a 360 turn for us for about 5 minutes, a Red-headed Woodpecker, a second-year Orchard Oriole, and a male Yellow Warbler. Ruth made me promise not to chose the Prothonotary Warblers that made their presence known every stop but Hoover Meadows. Species observed included: Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Mallard Osprey Red-tailed hawk Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper Ring-billed Gull Mourning Dove Yellow-billed Cuckoo Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Acadian Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Blackburnian Warbler American Redstart Prothonotary Warbler Common Yellowthroat Field Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Species heard but eluded observation: Carolina Wren Gray-cheeked Thrush Wood Thrush Black-throated Green Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Ovenbird Hooded Warbler Scarlet Tanager Chipping Sparrow Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve Delorme 58 C (2) & (3) ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]