Last Weekend for May 4-6: The Biggest Week in American Birding
Last April M and I did some birding in Port Clinton. It was a little too early for the big warbler migration, so this year we corrected that problem by heading out to the same area for The Biggest Week in American Birding, which is a ten day event that typically corresponds with the height of the warbler's migrating north to Canada. As that link states The timing of the warbler arrival is early enough in spring that the trees have not leafed out, there are no bugs, and the birds are incredibly low and accessible. All of these things are true, and we had a fantastic weekend.
We dropped the dogs off at daycare on Friday night and headed up to the same hotel in Port Clinton that we used for the Walleye Drop a few years back. We rose somewhat early on Saturday morning and headed out to the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, which is the focal point of birdwatching during the Biggest Week. M has really good binoculars as well as lesser pair that was a throw in with a spotting scope her family got her as a gift. The scope wasn't good for fast moving birds, but with two pairs of binoculars we were able to see quite a few birds up close and personal over a thorough two hour walk.
We then headed back to the hotel to meet M's parents, who had driven up from Columbus that morning. We promptly returned to the boardwalk and did another walk through. This one was in the afternoon and somewhat hotter and more crowded with people, but we still saw plenty of birds. After another couple of hours we wrapped up there.
The Biggest Week is a big deal. We heard many foreign accents (Japanese, Australian and British at a minimum), and I counted license plates from 17 different states when I walked the length of the parking lot to retrieve the car Saturday afternoon. On Sunday I saw another 5-6 license plates, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Our Saturday evening activity was a boat trip on Lake Erie sponsored by the Friends of the Ottawa National Wildlife Reserve. The trip went about ten miles out into Lake Erie to circle West Sister Island, which is the only wilderness area in Ohio and is a major breeding ground for herons, cormorants and assorted sea birds. We had an absolutely gorgeous night to be on the lake, a perfect sunset, knowledgeable tour guides, and some pretty credible tacos for Cinco de Mayo! We saw many, many birds and heard lots of hilarious stories. It was a really good night.
On a fun side note, West Sister Island was featured in Dirty Jobs some years ago under the name Vomit Island. They made that name up for TV, but it's not wrong because when the naturalists go on to the island to do nest counts, the herons often puke fish on to them as a defense mechanism. Add in the mosquitos, chiggers, ticks and snakes, and it's a really exciting volunteer opportunity! The Vomit Island portion starts at 21:00.
After M's parents we went to the hotel, M and I went to a bar (actually, returned there since we went on Friday night too) and had a snack while watching the tail end of the Cavs game, concluding with Lebron hitting a sick shot to win the game in the last seconds. Someone in the bar fell over backwards on his stool when that happened, and I don't think he was all that drunk. I'm not much of a hoops fan, but that was amazing.
I had lined up a sub for radio, so Sunday morning the four of us returned to Magee Marsh for another pass through. We then went out to Ottawa NWR and did a mini driving tour. From there M and her folks did a few more things while I went home to pick up the dogs. We reconvened for dinner at Deagan's.
For those few of you who are friends with M on FB, she linked photos (not hers) of the top 40 important birds that we saw. Here's the list:
Magee Marsh:
Blackburnian Warbler
Magnolia Warbler - My personal favorite warbler.
Cape May Warbler
American Redstart
Blackpoll Warbler
Black and White Warbler - I don't think I personally saw this one.
Northern Parula - I don't think I saw this one either.
Yellow Warbler
Black Throated Green Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Throated Warbler
Palm Warbler - I missed this one too.
Oven Bird
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Gray-Cheeked Thrush
Warbling Vireo
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-headed (eyed) Vireo
Hermit Thrush
Red-headed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker - I missed this guy.
Downy Woodpecker - I made a British tourists day when I pointed two of these out.
Tree Swallow
Woodcock - A volunteer had a scope pointed at this one. It's super neat looking.
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Common Egret
Black-necked Stilt - I didn't see this one.
Killdeer
Wood Duck - We saw an adult couple on their nest in a tree with a duckling.
Eastern Screech Owl - By far the coolest bird that I saw. It was perched on a branch in clear view for those with binoculars.
Bald Eagle - There are several nests in this area.
West Sister Island:
American White Pelican - I think, might have been a brown pelican.
Ottawa:
Barn Swallow
Trumpeter Swan
American Coot
Plus assorted Canadian Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Song Sparrows, Cormorants and other less important birds.
Many thanks to all the bird nerds who pointed out neat birds and helped identify them. Apparently the true bird nerd has a camera with a lens as long as their arm, or failing that really expensive binoculars in a harness. Also, bird shirts as de rigueur; fortunately M's mother had one!
We dropped the dogs off at daycare on Friday night and headed up to the same hotel in Port Clinton that we used for the Walleye Drop a few years back. We rose somewhat early on Saturday morning and headed out to the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, which is the focal point of birdwatching during the Biggest Week. M has really good binoculars as well as lesser pair that was a throw in with a spotting scope her family got her as a gift. The scope wasn't good for fast moving birds, but with two pairs of binoculars we were able to see quite a few birds up close and personal over a thorough two hour walk.
We then headed back to the hotel to meet M's parents, who had driven up from Columbus that morning. We promptly returned to the boardwalk and did another walk through. This one was in the afternoon and somewhat hotter and more crowded with people, but we still saw plenty of birds. After another couple of hours we wrapped up there.
The Biggest Week is a big deal. We heard many foreign accents (Japanese, Australian and British at a minimum), and I counted license plates from 17 different states when I walked the length of the parking lot to retrieve the car Saturday afternoon. On Sunday I saw another 5-6 license plates, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Our Saturday evening activity was a boat trip on Lake Erie sponsored by the Friends of the Ottawa National Wildlife Reserve. The trip went about ten miles out into Lake Erie to circle West Sister Island, which is the only wilderness area in Ohio and is a major breeding ground for herons, cormorants and assorted sea birds. We had an absolutely gorgeous night to be on the lake, a perfect sunset, knowledgeable tour guides, and some pretty credible tacos for Cinco de Mayo! We saw many, many birds and heard lots of hilarious stories. It was a really good night.
On a fun side note, West Sister Island was featured in Dirty Jobs some years ago under the name Vomit Island. They made that name up for TV, but it's not wrong because when the naturalists go on to the island to do nest counts, the herons often puke fish on to them as a defense mechanism. Add in the mosquitos, chiggers, ticks and snakes, and it's a really exciting volunteer opportunity! The Vomit Island portion starts at 21:00.
Click to viewAfter M's parents we went to the hotel, M and I went to a bar (actually, returned there since we went on Friday night too) and had a snack while watching the tail end of the Cavs game, concluding with Lebron hitting a sick shot to win the game in the last seconds. Someone in the bar fell over backwards on his stool when that happened, and I don't think he was all that drunk. I'm not much of a hoops fan, but that was amazing.
I had lined up a sub for radio, so Sunday morning the four of us returned to Magee Marsh for another pass through. We then went out to Ottawa NWR and did a mini driving tour. From there M and her folks did a few more things while I went home to pick up the dogs. We reconvened for dinner at Deagan's.
For those few of you who are friends with M on FB, she linked photos (not hers) of the top 40 important birds that we saw. Here's the list:
Magee Marsh:
Blackburnian Warbler
Magnolia Warbler - My personal favorite warbler.
Cape May Warbler
American Redstart
Blackpoll Warbler
Black and White Warbler - I don't think I personally saw this one.
Northern Parula - I don't think I saw this one either.
Yellow Warbler
Black Throated Green Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Throated Warbler
Palm Warbler - I missed this one too.
Oven Bird
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Black Throated Blue Warbler
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
Gray-Cheeked Thrush
Warbling Vireo
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Blue-headed (eyed) Vireo
Hermit Thrush
Red-headed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker - I missed this guy.
Downy Woodpecker - I made a British tourists day when I pointed two of these out.
Tree Swallow
Woodcock - A volunteer had a scope pointed at this one. It's super neat looking.
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
Common Egret
Black-necked Stilt - I didn't see this one.
Killdeer
Wood Duck - We saw an adult couple on their nest in a tree with a duckling.
Eastern Screech Owl - By far the coolest bird that I saw. It was perched on a branch in clear view for those with binoculars.
Bald Eagle - There are several nests in this area.
West Sister Island:
American White Pelican - I think, might have been a brown pelican.
Ottawa:
Barn Swallow
Trumpeter Swan
American Coot
Plus assorted Canadian Geese, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Song Sparrows, Cormorants and other less important birds.
Many thanks to all the bird nerds who pointed out neat birds and helped identify them. Apparently the true bird nerd has a camera with a lens as long as their arm, or failing that really expensive binoculars in a harness. Also, bird shirts as de rigueur; fortunately M's mother had one!