Biggest Week - Private Marsh Birding Trip

Winous Point Shooting Club (78 degrees, clear blue skies)

We signed up for a van tour to a private marsh with the Biggest Week in American Bird as soon as the registration was open.  This trip sold out within minutes and now I understand why it's so popular. Our trip took us out to a private property which allowed us the opportunity to bird a special area not open to the public.

After we got into the van our driver (Randy) and guide (Ethan)  told us about where we would be spending the day. It was Winous Point Shooting Club, a 5000 acre property operated by the oldest operating duck hunting club in North America.  It-was established in 1856 on the shores of Lake Erie in Sandusky Bay. To say that this property is breathtaking is really an understatement. 

Our driver and guide Randy and Ethan

Here we are getting on the van at what I call the pre-crack of dawn. We had to get up at 3 a.m. in order to arrive on time for  this trip.  I'm not exactly a morning person but today we were very excited to find out where this trip would be going.

We traveled about 20 minutes out to the club and the sun began to rise over the lake. To enter the club you go down a long tree lined road. Our guide quickly had us get out and you could hear birds singing everywhere. Our guide for the day was named Ethan and he is the best birder I have ever met. He is only 25 years old and birds mostly by listening to the bird calls and then finding the bird. He is astonishing talented. He works in South Africa most of the year escorting birding trips in the area.

We spent about two hours going slowly up the road. We identified 19 different warblers and four flycatchers. In total we saw 103 different special of birds and added 17 birds to our life list.  What a fantastic day!  Here is a link to our eBird checklist. 

Eventually we made it to the clubhouse which had spectacular sweeping views of Sandusky Bay. John, the resident biologist manager, met us and  told us about some of the interesting history and current conservation efforts being done by the conservancy. This property is managed by a series of dikes and planting projects.

This exclusive men's club does not allow many visitors and it's rumored to costs over a million dollars to join.  Currently there are 28 members. The manager of the club made us feel very welcome. You may think visiting a duck hunting club does not really exactly jive with being a birder. I have learned, however, that duck hunters are some of the best conservationist. The manager told us a lot about it's efforts and a current King Rail project. Volunteering for J.N. Ding Darling with Fish and Wildlife we have learned how money used to buy land is raised from the sale of Duck Stamps - which is basically a hunting permit. 

Here is a link to an interesting article about a "punter" guide who takes out the members during hunting season. 

After touring the clubhouse we then drove out into the splendid marshes and viewed the vast wetlands. The "road" we drove on was the dike. We saw lots of ducks and beautiful American Golden Plover, a new bird for us. 

Greeter and Lesser Yellowlegs

Reluctantly we needed to go back to our cars and leave this beautiful place. It's been a few days now since this trip and it's still very present in my mind. Our guide Ethan and this place will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Great Horned Owlets

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