Current Topic: Whip-poor-wills

Tweets from The Biggest Week

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If you are going to the Biggest Week, then I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow @BiggestWeek on Twitter and, if you can, get the tweets sent to your phone while you are at the festival. The tweets had me and my friend, Renee, chasing birds all over the place – with a high percentage of success. There are a number of good birders who have access to post tweets, so the area is pretty much covered.

Note: this post has embedded tweets, please be patient with the loading time.

Thanks to the tweets, our first afternoon at Magee started off with great views of a bird we only barely saw last year.

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Gray-cheeked Thrush at the beginning of >Estuary Trail

Not sure where Estuary Trail is? Do not be shy to ask someone. Birding guides are all over the boardwalk; your fellow birders are also friendly and will be happy to help!

After a long day of birding outside of Magee, we came back to another good find. Once we got to the location, the crowd of people directed us where we needed to look.

This American Bittern hunted out in the open for two evenings in a row

American Bittern along the Magee causeway

I would have never thought I would see a Bittern out in the open like this! He was busy fishing while many birders got great looks.

One of my favorite tweet stories happened on our third day. Renee and I just began the Ottawa wildlife drive and this tweet came in. She saw the tweet first didn’t know what to say about it. I picked up the phone and knew why.

We drove through the rest of the wildlife drive without looking for more birds and made our way to Magee. As we were walking to #13 on the boardwalk, birders assured us that the Owl was still there – and it was.

Long-eared Owl seen by many off the boardwalk

Long-eared Owl at Magee Marsh!

We did have some unsuccessful attempts at chasing tweets – you can’t get them all!

I can’t tell you how many times Renee and I chased the Black-billed Cuckoo in hopes of both of us getting a life bird. Unfortunately, this is one that we did not see. They did not show themselves for long, but the chase was fun. In the process, we did get to see one of the American Woodcocks off the boardwalk.

American Woodcock right next to the boardwalk

American Woodcock found while looking for Cuckoos

Another tweet came through that had us abandon the Cuckoo search that morning…

This one was a success! Thank you, Greg – you helped us both get a great life bird!

Golden-winged Warbler at the loop.

Golden-winged Warbler at the loop

The loop turned out to be pretty popular for good Warblers. At one point, there were so many birds that people were using Warblers to direct birders to another Warbler.

My lifer Canada Warbler off of the "loop"

My lifer Canada Warbler off of the “loop”

Tweets will also be sent for birds that roost during the day. Someone usually has a scope on these birds.

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Eastern Whip-poor-will on the side trail

If it’s a really good bird who is staying in place, the tweeting will continue.

This Clay-colored Sparrow was a life bird!

Clay-colored Sparrow at the entrance of the Estuary trail

And hey, while we’re at the Estuary trail….

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on Estuary Trail

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher on Estuary Trail

Another lifer!

I hope this post convinced you – getting live tweets sent to your phone can really help you stay connected! You will also stay up to date on the latest event happenings.

And you may just get a really great bird out of it…

That happened after the festival was over, but three Kirtland Warblers showed up and were tweeted about on the previous year during the festival, so you never know!

 

Is It May Yet??

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I will once again be a part of the blogging team for The Biggest Week in American Birding. I had so much fun writing about my experiences last year and hope to gear everyone up for this year’s festival.

So what is all the hype about??

Thousands of birders flock to northwest Ohio to witness the best warbler migration in the United States. This ten day “week” starts on May 6th and features birding events at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Magee Marsh, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas. It is headquartered at Maumee Bay Lodge & Conference Center, which has a great bird habitat in itself.

Cape May Warblers are a given!

Cape May Warblers are a given!

Last year, I saw twelve life birds, met many new friends and got the best looks at great birds than I ever have before. If someone sees a good bird, you will know about it and they are happy to point it out. There is also an official twitter account that you can follow and get tweets sent right to your phone so you don’t miss a good sighting.

This Eastern Whip-poor-will gave many people great looks

This Eastern Whip-poor-will gave many people great looks

The American Bittern who was seen by many

The American Bittern who was seen by many

Surprises are always a possibility – like this Long-eared Owl that flew into the Marsh! My friend and I found out about this bird from a tweet while we were at Ottawa NWR, we promptly drove to Magee and made our way to its location on the boardwalk.

A surprise Long-eared Owl at Magee

A surprise Long-eared Owl at Magee

I am looking forward to birding from sunrise until sunset, then ending the days relaxing with friends. I will be there from May 11th through the 15th.

The sunset from at Maumee Bay Lodge

The sunset from at Maumee Bay Lodge

Hope to see you there!