MAGEE MARSH: Walking for Wet Warblers

Ann and I split up for the morning. I dropped her off at BSBO as she was scheduled to take the morning outing by bus to various local birding spots, or as it was later known as, ‘the parking lot trip”.

Damp, dreary, drizzly with periods of heavier rain….. for a moment I thought I was back in England, encompassed in British weather, until I saw a brilliant ‘flame throated” Blackburnian Warbler – just above head height fifty feet away – wow! For several hours I slowly and carefully walked the boardwalk at Magee Marsh (above) for wet warblers – Yellow-rumped, Ovenbird, Nashville, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, and I had barely walked a couple of hundred feet!

Ann’s first stop was at Harter’s Farm, where the target grassland birds preformed admirably. These included Bobolink’s, Eastern Bluebird and three sparrows, Song, Field and Grasshopper.

By the time they had reached Metzger Marsh to look for the American White Pelican, that was sighted yesterday, it was far too rainy – no one ventured out the bus and the expected Yellow-headed Blackbird could not be found. However, they were rewarded with barely visible Gadwall, American Coots, Common Moorhen and Pied-billed Grebe and a pair of Trumpeter Swans. On the way out a breeding plumage Black Tern could be seen flying along the wide channel.

At Maumee Bay two additional terns were added, these being Common and Caspian. The swallow tally increased today, with Purple Martin and Rough-winged added to the plethora of Tree and Barns already seen.

On Krause Road the bare fields held Horned Lark, and a Lesser Yellowlegs at a small water-filled depression amongst Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. A male Ring-necked Pheasant (above) was spotted a good distance out walking through the corn stubble to the grassy edge of the field. The view through the scope bought this beautiful bird considerably closer – this being a lifer for many in the group.

I soldiered on with umbrella in hand and what was fast becoming soggy attire. I would encounter several dozen other birders, all seemingly just as wet. The rain falling through the canopy and onto the lower leaves as well as the ground, meant that we were constantly lifting our bins to check for birds. There was so much false avian movement, yet just enough birds, to keep our enthusiasm up. Veeries (above) could be seen feeding close to the boardwalk, with at least one calling. In spite of the poor lighting conditions we had good comparisons of Philadelphia and Vireo Warbling. A few White-throated Sparrows sensibly spent their time tucked into a dense willow shrub.

Though the numbers of warblers were certainly less than a hundred, compared to the 1500 that was estimated a few days ago, the variety was astonishing.  Palm (above), Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, American Redstart, Yellow and Blackpoll all of which were, at one time or another, within arms reach. There was a Common Yellowthroat, a Northern Waterthrush poking around the perimeter of a swampy spot, and a singing Northern Parula before I decided it was time to dry out. I had not even made it a quarter of the way around this wonderful walk!

Following a late lunch Ann and I returned to Magee Marsh once we had a slight break in the weather. This time many more had descended upon the boardwalk and clusters of weatherproofed birders could be seen ogling a nice mixture of passerines and a pair of Wood Ducks that had found a convenient roost high up in a maple. The brilliant orange of the male Baltimore Oriole stood out against the wet dark green leaves. Someone sighted a Black-billed Cuckoo and a Brown Thrasher flew between two groups of birders.

Ann delighted in the Black-throated Green and Chestnut-sided and I had to tear her away to point out the Bay-breasted that flittered about not far above the hand railing. We found a couple of very active flycatchers, a Great Crested and an Eastern Wood Pewee, but we were soon drawn back to the warblers. This time it was for a male Prothonotary and a female Golden-winged (above) which showed very well, before the rains once again became too heavy. By the end of this miserable (weather-wise) day we had tallied 21 warbler species, only missing Mourning and the Canada that had been seen this morning.