I checked several new areas of the preserve today for Prothonotary Warbler activity, including Oxbow Road, Mudhen Marsh and Little Walnut Creek. As each day arrives, so do more Prothonotary Warbler males. They are beginning to show signs of territorial behavior and several are checking out nest boxes. Other activity is also stepping up and the birding should be even better over the next week. However, today I observed another sign of spring, one we all can do without, the first tick. He was eagerly heading up my trouser leg. He is now it tick heaven. Time to break out the DEET. Species Observed Double-crested Cormorant (several hundred near Pelican Island) Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture (large kettles near roost site) Canada Goose (enough nest to qualify as a sub-division) Wood Duck Mallard Blue-winged Teal Hooded Merganser Cooper's Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Coot Killdeer Ring-billed Gull Caspian Tern Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker (activity at nest hole) Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker (pair at nest hole) Eastern Phoebe (nest under bridge) White-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow (active nest sites) Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren House Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (very high numbers everywhere) Eastern Bluebird American Robin Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher (good numbers) European Starling Northern Parula Yellow Warbler (starting to sing from every low treetop) Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Prothonotary Warbler (males spectacular singing in the sunlight - but then I'm bias) Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]