MAGEE MARSH: The Biggest Day in American Birding!

Hopefully this will sum it up, but on second thoughts it will not come close to doing today justice.

Yesterday afternoon’s winds came from the south and heavy storms crossed the area last night. The potential for an excellent day of migrants was in place.

Black-throated Blue female, Parula, Warbling Vireo, Black-and-white acting like a nuthatch, Blackburnian low in the ash, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, overhead dozens of Blue Jays, Yellow-rump, Redstart, a brilliant male Scarlet Tanager (above),…….

….Indigo Bunting, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Least Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Cape May, Palm on the ground, Black-throated Green (above), Tennessee…..

………all this without taking more than a step away from the vehicle.

On the boardwalk every gathering of birders had their own pocket of six to ten species they could concentrate on, most without having to lift their glasses! One group had a Mourning, another a Black-billed Cuckoo (above), Canada’s were common, a Hooded being a new warbler for this week drew a great deal of attention, the female Golden-winged was another favorite, and Bay-breasted Warblers were spaced about a hundred yards apart!

Someone quickly walked by me saying “Kirtland’s along the East Beach, tweeted. Kenn”. I grabbed a startled Ann and proceeded as fast as we could given the tremendous volume of birders on the boardwalk. As I went I said, “Kirtland’s. Follow me”. Some did, others stood enthralled with the warblers that they had in front of them, and were likely bewildered by my comment.

A steady line of birders (above) worked their way along the beach, to where the only birder that was not on the boardwalk had found a male Kirtland’s Warbler – appropriately, none other than the event’s host, Kenn Kaufman (below foreground).

A small group was gathered in front of a open stand of short sumac, watching a most cooperative Kirtland’s (above), foraging along the branches, in the brush pile and along the ground, occasionally breaking into full song for our benefit.

The word spread quickly to the leaders via tweeter and during the course of the next couple of hours streams of participants worked their way to ‘the spot’ to see this mega-rariety away from its breeding grounds. The boardwalk, full of warblers, was emptied of birders.

Today there were far more birds than birders, and there had to have been well over a thousand birders. By day’s end we had 26 species of warbler, including 4 Mourning Warblers (below).

This is not just The Biggest Week in American Birding, it may well justly be called, The Biggest Day in America Birding.