Monday, May 19, 2014

Warbler Quest

The Nerds have been talking about going to Magee Marsh in Ohio for a few years but could never get the trip together. Thanks to Lori's persistence, we got the trip scheduled for this weekend. Only 3 of us could make it - me, Lori and Barbara - the nut jobs.

The three of us worked all day on Friday, met at my house at 8:30 and drove all night to the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio so that we could be there Saturday morning.  Let me tell you about our luck - we arrived at 4:30 AM  in the pouring rain! We can't catch a break.

Soggy Magee Marsh
We stood under a canopy looking at Thrushes with the Amish. Oh, you read that right - the place was crawling with Amish all decked out in their black oil cloth coats and pants and plastic rain guards on their straw hats. Don't be fooled - they all had really high end optics. Who knew the Amish were birders?

Amish mingling with the English (Barbara and Lori)
I was giving up hope of seeing anything but then, I remembered what Scott Whittle told me - Magee is great in the rain. The rain let up around 8:30 but the leaves were still dripping - warblers that is. The whole place was filled with birds. What a delight!

The birds were all over the place. They were really close. Here are just a few photos from the day.

Magnolia Warbler (aka Maggie)
 Prothonotary Warblers are named for some Olde English notary who wears a yellow hood.

Prothonotary Warbler

American Redstart
 This Scarlet Tanager sat and preened for over 10 minutes. The red was blinding in the overcast lighting.
Scartlet Tanager
 Tennessee Warblers are usually hard to photograph, but not at Magee Marsh boardwalk.

Tennessee Warbler
 Wilson's Warblers are easy to identify with their black yamakas.

Wilson's Warbler
 Yellow warblers were literally everywhere along the boardwalk.

Yellow Warbler
I am overwhelmed with photos and stories to share from our trip. More to come soon.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely some of these gorgeous birds will show up on your best bird list. Can't wait for THE REST OF THE STORY. HH

Linda said...

wait til you hear about Pittsburgh

MevetS said...

We ran into some Amish types in Texas. they too had high end optics.

They were not very friendly at all.