The Biggest Week in American Birding - Magee Marsh

Magee Marsh, Ohio (86 degrees, blue skies)

Let The Birding Begin....

The Biggest Week in American Birding is a festival held for ten days in northwest Ohio. It's a birders dream trip and it features lots of special events, tours, workshops, and a fantastic boardwalk to view the warblers. This key feature in Magee Marsh is where warblers come to take a rest in the trees before crossing Lake Erie on their way up north. There are lots of other birding hotspots you can check out too. Registration for this event starts in February and most of the birding tours are sold out within a few hours. You don't have to book a tour to have a good time. In fact, the boardwalk is free to anyone to attend.

Our friends Randy and Fran came last year and they have been helping all of us make the best use of our time. They are awesome birders and can identify them so easily. If you are new to birding this is a great place to come.  There are hundreds of  friendly birders  along the boardwalk who point out what they are seeing to anyone who asks. It can be a very crowded event but everyone is very nice and courteous. I was so amazed how quiet the boardwalk is with the big crowds and everyone is smiling.  It's a very happy event. 

Here we are at the entrance. Come follow along and check out what's it's like to be here. On our first day our friends Randy, Fran, Barry, and Jann joined us. 

Front - Fran and Jann
Back - Randy, Barry, and John

You will see some pretty amazing scopes, cameras, and binoculars being toted around by the spectators. The sky is the limit as to what you can spend on this hobby, however, it's certainly not necessary. A good pair of binoculars and a curiosity is all you really need. If you have a little cash left over for a camera with a zoom all the better.  I use a Canon SX-50 with an incredible zoom and it's very reasonable to purchase (recommended by the Lillian Stokes).  My binoculars are Canon Image Stabilizer 10 X 30  which I just love (recommenced by Fran and Randy). It helps steady the bird image. 

Zoom Zoom

Fresnel Camera Flash - good grief

It's crowded especially in the morning and on weekends. Everyone is very patient and there is a hush over the crowd which is so surprising. I loved seeing the children out with their parents birding for the day. There were also a lot of Amish families. 

When an unusual bird arrives a large crowd quickly develops.  You can hear people laughing and getting excited when they discover a new bird.  When the bird finally flies off the crowd moans in disappointment.  I think it was sometimes more fun to watch the birders than the birds. 

The Biggest Week has a twitter account which was so helpful. Bird guides frequently add tweets telling you where an unusual bird is being seen.  There are numbers on the boardwalk rail which help you find these areas quickly. Plus the sudden appearance of a large crowd is a great indicator something cool is happening.

Be sure to stop on your way to the boardwalk at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and pick up free maps of all the best birding places in the area. It takes awhile to understand how everything is laid out. 

Think thin

Love those smiles

Observation tower

Look carefully for the American Woodcock

Black-billed Cuckoo (our Bird of the Year!!!)

Look Who Else Is Here

Grey Morph Screech Owl

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Woodcock eggs

Fox Snake

Baltimore Oriole

We stayed in one area for quite awhile watching two Prothonotary Warblers building a nest.  What a pretty bird. It was so funny to watch one of them kick the other out of the nest.

Prothenotary Warbler

In the nest...look carefully

Peek a boo Tree Swallow

Past the boardwalk there is a trail along the lake.  There are lots of shorebirds in this area. 

Common Tern

It was fun to run into some of our Sanibel friends from Ding Darling and Caloosa Bird Club

Davis's - friends at Ding

Randy, John, our friend Iber from Caloosa Bird Club, and Fran

The Big Sit

Have you heard of the movie called the Big Year...well here at the boardwalk there is a birder doing the BIG SIT 

Tom Bartlett (who was also our guide on the Jet Express) takes a high seat and identifies birds from a ladder near the boardwalk each year as a fundraiser benefiting youth education programs.  He has been doing this for 20 years.  At the time we saw him he'd reached 87 birds noted from his perch. What a cool fund raiser. 

The Big Sit Bird List

Earlier in this post I showed you the super camouflaged Woodcock and some eggs.  Few birders ever see this one due to its ability to hide in its surroundings. We signed up to see it's dramatic mating ritual out at Maume State Park. Our guide was from Wildbirds Unlimited and he told us all about this amazing ritual. Each evening in the spring the male bird performs a dramatic exhibition to show off his skills in hopes of finding a female. It starts around 8:30 pm. The birds were all around the parking lot and as the light dimmed you could hear a buzzing peent sound-almost like a loud frog. We walked over to one nearby and after a few of these buzzing sounds he launched up into the air over 300 feet in a wide circular motion. He then starts to make some twittering wing sounds and dramatically dives back almost to the same spot. After a brief recovery he starts it up all over again. It was such a funny thing to watch.  I sure hope he finds somebody to love.

Our guide for the American Wookcock 'show"

If you want to hear the different sounds click on the link below.

Mating Sounds of a male Wookcock during its mating ritual

It was too dark to capture a video of what we saw but I found this on YouTube. It makes me laugh again as I write this post. Nature sure is amazing. 

We are so happy to be here. It's been a very cool event. Check back soon for a post about a van trip we took with a very talented guide.  

THE END