After two days of listening to the wind howl and having the electric power flicker, I decided it was time to face the music and see how much damage the storm caused with my nest boxes at the Hoover Nature Preserve. As I drove from the house to the preserve I observed many yards with freshly downed trees and I expected the worse. I checked out Areas L M and N in Galena and was surprised when I found numerous trees were downed by the storm, but it appears that only one with a nest box toppled. Hopefully the other areas will have fared as well. In the last two weeks the water levels at Hoover Reservoir have risen from over 8 feet below normal to about 4 feet below normal. The water in the lower sections of Hoover Reservoir are open and there is a variety of waterfowl present, although many are tucked into the coves on the east side. The upper end of the reservoir is still mostly iced in. Waterfowl I located on the main part of the reservoir and on Big Walnut Creek off Area N included Canada Geese, Mallards, American Black Ducks, American Wigeon, Ring-necked Ducks, Redhead, Canvasback, Gadwall, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser and Northern Shoveler. Back in Area N I located a Great Horned Owl, several Red-headed Woodpeckers and a Red-shouldered Hawk. Off Area M there were two immature Bald Eagles. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve **************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. AOL Music takes you there. (http://music.aol.com/grammys?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000004) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]