I still have my mind on the Biggest Week in American Birding. It was an unforgettable experience that will be tough to top. I saw 150 species of birds and had twelve – yes TWELVE – life birds. Last week, I wrote a post about some highlights from my trip. This week, I will continue by sharing some photos to show you what can be expected if you decide to attend next year – yes – I am already thinking about next year…
This Clay-colored Sparrow was a life bird!
Birds, birds and more birds
Beautiful birds are everywhere you look!
Cape May Warbler from the boardwalk tower
Baltimore Oriole near the boardwalk parking lot
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher taken from the boardwalk tower
You will see more than just birds
Aside from birds, you can see some cute mammals, rare snakes and many turtles.
This Raccoon was playing peek-a-boo with me
Do not let the crowds scare you away
Crowds will form where there are good birds – the good thing about these crowds is that someone in it will see a good bird so no bird goes unseen. When they spot a bird they will let you know what they are looking at and help you find it. I took some photos with my phone of the crowds, both what I saw…
What’s that? A Golden-winged Warbler?
And some viewpoints from the birds…
A bird’s view from the ground
A bird’s eye view of the boardwalk
There are other great spot to visit
If the crowds are too much for you, there are quiet spots both on and off the boardwalk to visit. You do not have to even stay at Magee Marsh – you can also go to the trails at Maumee Bay State Park, take the auto tour at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, go for a day trip to Oak Openings, watch birds from the Windows On Wildlife at Pearson Metropark, look for waterbirds at Metzger… there are so many great hotspots!
Red-bellied Woodpecker at taken from the “Windows on Wildlife”
Beautiful view from Oak Openings, taken with my phone
Hard-to-see birds will be in someone’s sights
How many times can you say that you’ve seen a Whip-poor-will perched in a tree??
Other birders directed us to this Whip-poor-will
You can test top-of-the-line scopes and binoculars at Optics Alley
I think this photo speaks for itself…
The scope line-up at Optics Alley
Bird by day, hang out by night!
Birds & Blooms hosted a karaoke night. I did not sing, but those who did gave a great show!
Kim Kaufman killed it on the karaoke floor
There are other great events during the day
While we were making our way out of Magee Marsh, we stopped at the visitor center and were surprised by some live birds of prey from Back to the Wild. These birds were injured and cannot be returned to the wild, so they are now used for educational purposes. It was nice to get some photos of more cooperative birds. And further down the road at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, they were banding wild songbirds – they had a Northern Waterthrush when we were there.
This young Peregrine Falcon was flapping around
This Bald Eagle was hit by a train and is now blind in one eye with an injured wing
My favorite little raptor, the American Kestrel
I hope to see a Barn Owl in the wild some time soon
This Barred Owl was keeping an eye on us
The Great Horned Owl was not as angry as he looks
You will make new friends
It was great birding with friends who we met last year – even after seeing them a year ago at 2012’s Biggest Week, we connected like we see each other all the time. We also met many new friends along the way. Everyone, from the bloggers to the guides to visitors on the boardwalk were pleasant to be around and we could not ask to be around a better group of people!
Kim Kaufman’s sand art
Did I mention that there are lots of great birds to be seen?
Magnolia Warbler
American Bittern out in the open on the Magee causeway
I do not even know where to begin with my favorite parts from Biggest Week in American Birding. The week was so perfect, even if the Kirtland’s Warbler did not show up. As always, I will share my experience through photos, both good and bad quality.
The first Warbler I saw was a life bird
When we arrived on the boardwalk, we ran into a decent sized crowd. We asked them what they were waiting for and they directed us to a little bird shadow on a log and said it was a Mourning Warbler. We stopped, we waited and we got some good views of the bird – even though I did not get good photos. A life bird for both of us!
Mourning Warbler foraging down low
We saw 150 species of birds, 28 were Warblers
My friend, Renee, and I collectively saw 150 species of birds. We could have done better if we also concentrated on waterfowl and shorebirds which we failed to do! We did, however, chase down a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage near the Maumee Bay Lodge in very high winds and rain. The fact that we saw 28 species of Warblers was mind blowing! FIVE of those Warblers were life birds for me.
Golden-winged Warbler foraging down low
I stopped watching a Golden-winged Warbler to see a Canada Warbler
I still cannot believe that I went from photographing the Golden-winged Warbler above, a recent life bird, to the Canada Warbler below, another life bird. Guides were actually using these birds to let people know where other birds in the area were: Chestnut-sided Warbler to the left of the Canada Warbler.
The Canada Warbler is one who I heard singing before but never saw
Brightly colored birds were everywhere!
Some birds were so bright that I have to tone down their saturation in Photoshop. BIRDS RULE!
This Scarlet Tanager was just too bright
We went to Oak Openings this year
Renee and I headed to Oak Openings with our friend Chris who showed us some awesome birds. We would have never known where to go if it was not for him. He found both of us two life birds that day! For me, it was the Yellow-breasted Chat and Lark Sparrow.
We ended up picking many ticks off of ourselves for this Yellow-breasted Chat
An American Bittern hunted out in the open
I never had such a good look at an American Bittern before. Previously, I’ve only seen them flying (and caught a bad photo of it flying too). This bird was reported on the Biggest Week Twitter right off of the causeway leading to the boardwalk. Cars and birders were lined up to see this elusive bird. He appeared two days in a row.
This American Bittern hunted out in the open for two evenings in a row
Being a blogger has its benefits
I was pleasantly surprised to see that my name tag had an extra ribbon on it that said “volunteer” – what a way to make us feel special! I also received a Biggest Week shirt with this year’s beautiful logo on it. The perks did not stop there. The bloggers were invited to a private cottage for authentic New Mexican food. This was certainly the best tasting food that I have had recently – I never tasted anything like it!
Authentic New Mexican food
Everyone at the dinner were people who I just met [in person] that day except for Chris who is also on the field trip and blogging team. They are all wonderful people who will be friends for as long as I am a birder – aka life! The night ended with a beautiful sunset over Lake Erie. Great food, great people, great setting – who can ask for more??
Lake Erie Sunset
The most unexpected life bird made an appearance at the Boardwalk
As Renee and I were slowly making our way through the Ottawa Auto Tour, looking at three young Bald Eagles in a tree, this tweet came through on our phones: Boardwalk, 13, Long-eared owl. PIB. We were both speechless. We drove through the rest of the drive without stopping unless others were stopped ahead of us (oh yeah, we had to wait for a family of geese too); drove back to the boardwalk, passed the crowd looking at the Bittern who was out in the open again, parked the car and made our way to the boardwalk where the Owl was reported.
Long-eared Owl seen by many off the boardwalk
I was so excited that I was shaking. Earlier in the year, both of us had our life Short-eared Owl. We never thought we would have been looking at a Long-eared Owl a couple of months later.
I looked at a few birds through the Traveling Trinovid
If you have not heard of this, I suggest you check out Leica’s Traveling Trinovid blog. This pair of binoculars will be passed from birder to birder where they will see birds from different cities in many countries. So far, it has seen 313 species of birds only five months into it’s adventures. I only used it at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory feeders and also ID-ed a Northern Waterthrush with them at the banding station – what a difference these binoculars made compared to my regular pair! Maybe one day they will be in my hands for a real birding trip.
Me holding the Traveling Trinovid (photo by Jeff Bouton)
I saw a few baby turtles
Baby turtles were out in full force on Friday. Many people were helping them cross the road so they would not get crushed. The previous morning, I helped an adult Blandings Turtle across the road on our way in. I should have taken a photo of this endangered turtle – he was beautiful!
Baby turtle being helped across the road
I met authors to great field guides
Our Owl chase made us very late for the evening social, but we arrived at the tail end of it to see our friends and meet more new people. I noticed that Ken Kaufman and Don and Lillian Stokes were set up for a book signing so I went to the room and grabbed my field guides. Since it was already ten minutes until closing, there was no line and I was able to properly introduce myself. It was a pleasure meeting such great names in birding. BIRDERS RULE!
An upside down Black-and-white Warbler
I am OK with not seeing a Kirtland’s Warbler
I had high hopes for seeing a Kirtland’s Warbler this year, but even though multiple birds were found last year, they eluded us this year. I figure that it is OK to save that one for next year though so that there is a chance to top off this year! Kirtland’s or no Kirtland’s – it was a GREAT birding week!
What a way to start off the Biggest Week! After a long seven hour drive my friend and I headed straight to Magee Marsh to stretch our legs and get some initial birding in. As soon as arrived on the boardwalk we noticed a crowd huddling in one spot. A Mourning Warbler just flew into the brush and they were waiting for it to pop back up. They didn’t have to convince us to stay! This bird was on our most-wanted list last year and we dipped on it – we had to get it this year! We were all staring at a shadow of a bird who was not moving – then he started to flit around.
Mourning Warbler foraging down low
Our first warbler at the boardwalk was a lifer! I did not manage to get a good photo yet but he has been pretty reliable so I will try again later in the week.
Nearby, another bird with a similar name was sitting on her nest with two chicks poking their heads up. This is the first Mourning Dove nest I’ve seen – and it is right off the boardwalk.
Mourning Dove Nest
We walked around and slowly gathered more birds to our lists with great looks at Blackburnian, Magnolia, Nashville, Palm, Black-throated Green and Yellow Warblers. We stumbled upon an area where a White-eyed Vireo had been seen. It did not take long for the bird to pop back up and give me great life bird views!
White-eyed Vireo
A little further down, another crowd was gathered looking in a wet area of the marsh. A Northern Waterthrush has been seen. This is a bird that I often heard, but never had a visual on. He wasn’t hard to find as he foraged near the water for food. Three life birds in such a small amount of time – all right on the boardwalk!
Northern Waterthrush
We eventually met up with another friend in search of life bird number four – the Worm-eating Warbler. We didn’t find it yet, but hope to later in the week. After dipping on that bird, we headed to the estuary trail to look for the Prothonotary Warbler who has been building a nest. There is a Great-horned Owl nest in good view here, but the birds were hidden when we passed by. On our way in, however, we were greeted with a Gray-cheeked Thrush who gave me my best look and my first real photo of this species.
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Further in, we stopped to look at all the Terns, Gulls, Ducks and Shorebirds having dinner. They were backlit, so the photo op was not good. I only took a general view here.
Terns, Gulls and Dunlin
The path was full of Yellow, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Warbling Vireos (who were taking over the boardwalk!) and others scattered around. The bird that caught our attention though was an Orange-crowned Warbler – another life bird for the both of us! We did eventually get good looks at this bird, but he made photography difficult. It was still very satisfying! We gave up on the Prothonotary Warbler and started to head back to the parking lot. On our way we heard the bird singing and spotted a small group of people gathered around the brush. He made it difficult to get really good looks of since he was on the other side near the water, but we finally found him! Again, no photos – but who can beat the ones I got last year of the bird practically singing in our faces.
It was getting late, but we did stop at the Owls nest once again to find one of the babies poking its head out of the snag.
Great Horned Owlet
We birded until 8PM and finally made it to Maumee Bay Lodge to finalize our registration and check in. It turns out that we arrived too late to register – oops! We also had to rush to the Lodge’s restaurant because it was going to close in twenty minutes. Time flies by when you are having a great time! The day ended with a beautiful sunset.
Sunset from Maumee Bay Lodge
… And now we are ready for day two. We are heading to Oak Openings in search of four key birds – the Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, Yellow-breasted Chat and Lark Sparrow. Three of those would be life birds for me. Wish us luck!
Next week my friend Renee and I are heading to Ohio for five days of pure-birding fun during the Biggest Week in American Birding. I have been posting photos from this event since February and now it is finally here! Birders from all over the world (yes, not just the US) will be pouring into Magee Marsh and the surrounding areas to enjoy the Warbler spectacle.
Palm Warblers were everywhere!
Last year, we went to the festival because we heard good things about Magee Marsh. We ended up falling in love with it! Now The Biggest Week is in our plans for many more future spring migrations.
What is so special about this event?
Obviously, there are great birds – who do not make you struggle to view them.
One of many Cape May Warblers near eye level
We also met new friends from all over the world, many of whom we still keep in touch with over Facebook. Some of them were trip leaders and showed us some pretty cool birds.
My first very good looks at a Sandhill Crane thanks to the guides from Wildside Nature Tours
The event planning just keeps getting better and better. There are so many trips and social events on the schedule. Kim Kaufman and her team really knows what they are doing!
Warbling Vireo, typically in tree tops, seen from one of the raised platforms on the Magee boardwalk
The Biggest Week brought me some awesome life birds including my first looks at Bobolinks, a Least Flycatcher, a Common Nighthawk, an Eastern Screech-Owl, a Sora, Field Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Lincoln Sparrows, a Cliff Swallow, a Gray-cheeked Thrush, a Kentucky Warbler (thanks to new friends for this one!!) and Prothonotary Warblers.
Prothonotary Warbler – a new bird for my life list
When a rare bird shows up, you will know about it. One of the best highlights of last year’s event were the Kirtland’s Warblers. Three of them showed up after I left so I did not see them, but I am determined to get one this year!! Huge thanks to Dawn Fine and Chris West for allowing me to use their photo so that you can see the great views that people got. Word traveled fast when these birds showed up… and so did the crowds. If you don’t want to miss great birds like this one, be sure to keep up with @BiggestWeek on Twitter and opt to have their tweets sent straight to your phone.
Kirtland’s Warbler by Dawn Fine taken with a point and shoot camera. Yeah… that’s how close she got to this bird!
Kirtland’s Warbler by Chris West
Speaking of crowds – you may be turned off by the amount of people that will be in the area. Be sure to read Anna Fasoli’s post at Nemesis Bird to put your mind at ease. I, personally, am not the type of person who loves crowds. In fact I mostly enjoy birding alone, but if it weren’t for these groups, I may have missed many great birds. And like Anna said, it is not packed wall-to-wall with people – you can always get away from the crowd if you want to!
This Lincoln’s Sparrow was pointed out by others in the crowd
I also share my excitement with Biggest Week bloggers Rob Ripma, Jerry Jourdan and Linda Rockwell – all of who I hope to see this year. I’m sad that I will not get to meet Dawn Fine but look forward to seeing her at future events. If it weren’t for her, I would not have seen the offer for event bloggers.
I will leave you off with a link to a great migration poem by Kim Smith. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend you do!
If you are going to the Biggest Week in American Birding, you will want to be sure that you are following @BiggestWeek on Twitter. Not only will you get great information about the festival and related events, you will get real time updates on where to find birds before and during the festival.
Last year, my friend had the tweets going straight to her phone. If we were close enough, we would go finding the bird that was just tweeted. Pretty sweet, huh? It’s not hard to set up – and best of all, you don’t even need a smart phone! Here is how you do it:
First, log onto Twitter from a computer and open your Settings. On the sidebar to the left, click on Mobile.
Here, you want to activate twitter messaging by entering your mobile phone number in the text box.
Click Activate and you will see the following screen:
Follow the directions by texting GO to 40404 – remember normal text messaging carrier fees may apply, but it is otherwise free.
Once your phone is activated, you can customize your settings. You may want to remove everything that you do not want to receive tweets about. The only one you need checked for the purposes of having the @BiggestWeek tweets sent to your phone is Tweets from people you’ve enabled for mobile notifications.
After you save your settings go to the BiggestWeek’s page on twitter twitter.com/biggestweek. If you are not already following @BiggestWeek, press the follow button. To have their tweets sent to your phone click on the icon to the right of the following button and select Turn on mobile notifications.
And you are set! Here is a sampling of the tweets you may receive during the festival:
Tweets from Magee Marsh boardwalk complete with exact location of great birds.
Tweets from around other locations in the area and reminders of festival activities and social events.
And when a really good bird is spotted, up-to-date information on where it is located.
These tweets will be sent out by festival coordinators and guides who are spread out all over Magee Marsh and surrounding areas. It’s a great way to stay informed – and don’t forget to check in ahead of time to see news about the greatest Warbler event in the country!
Oh, and while your at it, how about also adding me to your twitter feed – @mydigitalmind. You don’t need my texts going to your phone, but you will like the stuff I post!
Edit: And speaking of getting tweets to your phone, an Eastern Meadowlark just sung to me (that is my text message sound) and I received my first tweet from @BiggestWeek, featuring this very post!
An Alternative to Texts
Some people have asked about an alternative way to get notified of Tweets from the Biggest Week. Another way to stay up-to-date is to subscribe to the @BiggestWeek Twitter RSS feed. Use your favorite RSS reader and customize it to your liking (like receiving emails).
Still on the edge about whether or not you want to attend the Biggest Week in American Birding festival? You can now view the official visitor online! What’s even better? You don’t even have to leave this website to view it!
Flipping through the guide made me look through my photos from last year. And ever since Warblers have been dancing through my head. I am so eager for their return to the northeast! To ramp up for migration, here are just some Warblers that I saw during last year’s festival.
You would think that Yellow-rumped Warblers would take over the trees…
Yellow-rumped Warbler
… but surprise, surprise, the Warbler who dominated the festival was the butt-pumping Palm Warbler.
Palm Warbler
Some Warblers were difficult to photograph…
Black and White Warbler
… and others made it too easy.
Cape May Warbler
But that is just the nature of photographing birds! Trees along the ponds were lined with our favorite bright-yellow Warbler who filled the air with their songs.
Yellow Warbler
Many unexpected Warblers came down to eye level…
Magnolia Warbler
Nashville Warbler
…and others would watch us from not far above.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Northern Parula
This is the first time that I came face-to-face with a Black-throated Blue Warbler!
Black-throated Blue Warbler
In the same area many birders were able to enjoy a Cerulean Warbler preening right off the board walk.
Cerulean Warbler
The star of the show, however, was the singing Prothonotary Warbler who gave me the best life-bird view that I could ever ask for.
Prothonotary Warbler
I also saw tons of Blackburians, a few Bay-breasted and one surprise Kentucky Warbler – who we would not have seen if other birders did not flag down our car as we were leaving. Yeah – we got flagged down to look at an awesome bird. What a great way to end a day!
The festival is only one month away. I am so excited that I will soon be surrounded by great birds and wonderful people. If you’re going, let me know! I would love to meet more people!
Last Thursday, registration opened for the Biggest Week in American Birding. Hundreds of birders have already signed up to enjoy a 10-day week of some of the best Warbler birding in the country! It’s not just about the Warblers though…
What can you expect from going to the Biggest Week?
One of the greatest surprise sightings during the Biggest Week in American Birding last year was seeing usually-nocturnal birds during the day – with great views too! We did not even have to locate any of these birds ourselves; other birders already had them in their sight and were eager to share with anyone who was interested. All birds photographed below were seen right on the Magee Marsh boardwalk!
On our first day, we had the best views of an Eastern Screech-Owl that you could possibly ask for – and it was a life bird for me! I always thought I would first see one in a nesting box – it was great to see and photograph it perched naturally. We saw this bird every day that we visited the boardwalk.
Eastern Screech-Owl
The same day, we stumbled upon a Nightjar-like bird who was hunkered down in plain sight. We agreed that it was a Common Nighthawk when it finally stretched out a bit and showed us more of its body. A great view of another life bird!
Common Nighthawk
One of the more famous guests of the boardwalk could only be seen from a very specific area, on top of a bench, with one – maybe two – viewers at a time. Others had better views of these Great-horned Owlets, but I will take even this view any day! And dare I say – life bird number three for the nocturnal species, even if it was just the young!
Great-horned Owlets
We heard about the breeding pair of American Woodcocks who would show themselves during the day. Guides had their scopes pointed at the “eye of the woodcock” on her nest at various times throughout the week. This was one bird that we really wanted to see since all of us had only seen them at dusk when the males display. We were not disappointed!
American Woodcock
This one may not have been a life bird, but I’ve never seen a Woodcock like this before!
American Woodcock Close-up
One more nocturnal surprise was a fly-by adult Black-crowned Night-heron that we saw while on a half-day field trip in search of water birds. We also did catch some of these night birds at night. One of the most memorable experiences was having a woodcock land right in front of us after his flight display on the same night that we caught an Eastern Screech-Owl – all on the property of the Maumee Bay Lodge while celebrating Cinco de Mayo with new friends. Birding plus margaritas?? Sure!!
This year, I am proud to announce that I am on the blogging team for The Biggest Week in American Birding. This festival is a ten-day “week” of some of the most amazing spring birding in the country which includes guided tours, keynote speakers, workshops, a great camaraderie of birders and, most of all…
BIRDS
Cape May Warbler
AT
Red-breasted Nuthatch
EYE
American Woodcock
LEVEL
Prothonotary Warbler
The Biggest Week takes place in Northwest Ohio aka “The Warbler Capital of the World.” It is headquartered at Maumee Bay Lodge & Conference Center and also features events and walks at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Magee Marsh. If you want to see great birds, meet great people and take a break from warbler-neck – this is the place to be! Oh, did I mention that last year they saw THREE Kirtlands Warblers?? I missed them, but am hoping to find them in May!
Yellow Warbler
I will be sharing my experiences from last year, so keep an eye on my updates to see more!
