Besides mind-blowing views of 30+ warbler species, another highlight for many birders during the Biggest Week in American Birding is seeing Eastern Screech-Owls sleeping out in the open. These little, camouflaged owls often have their cover blown by angry flocks of songbirds and can be spotted roosting out in the open, or if you know which owl nestboxes to keep an eye … Read More
A beautiful blue bird….Cerulean Warbler at the Biggest Week!
On Saturday, we arrived at the Magee Marsh Boardwalk in the afternoon. The location of a Cerulean Warbler was tweeted earlier in the day, and I had hoped to track it down since it would be a lifer (appalling, as a birder from PA…I know!). When I arrived on scene, I was distracted by a roosting Whip-poor-will, which I took … Read More
The Biggest Week: Day 2!
After hitting up “Birds and Beers” last night at the Maumee Bay State Park Conference Center, and running on only a few hours of sleep from the previous night, I slept like a baby. I had dreams of warblers too close for focusing, and once again my birdy dreams came true on the Magee Marsh Boardwalk. Cory and I got … Read More
The Biggest Week in American Birding: Group Birding at its Finest!
The Biggest Week in American Birding is a ten day birding extravaganza in Ohio created by Black Swamp Bird Observatory to promote bird conservation and increase awareness of the amazing bird migration that happens in early May in northwest Ohio. It is an extremely affordable event, offering reasonably priced work shops, field trips, and presentations. In addition, it provides an excellent opportunity for … Read More
Go to the Biggest Week
Seriously though, just do it. Justine, Anna, Alex and I spent almost a week last spring birding Magee Marsh and nearby hotspots and had a huge blast. The warbler migration along the Great Lakes is phenomenal, and the Biggest Week is ideally situated to produce memorable birding days, no matter what the weather is. Our first day in the area … Read More
Prothonotaries!
President Harry Truman once said that “prothonotary” was the most impressive-sounding political title in the U.S. and in our opinion, the Prothonotary Warbler may just be one of the most impressive sounding and looking warblers that we encountered at ‘The Biggest Week in American Birding‘. Certainly one of the most cooperative birds to see/photograph at ‘The Biggest Week’ were the … Read More
Oak Openings– one crazy habitat
[dc]O[/dc]n our second full day in Ohio, we decided to head to Oak Openings Metropark, a spot west of Toledo with a unique set of habitats and associated birds. The combination of sand dunes, prairie and savannahs provide suitable breeding habitat for Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Red-headed Woodpecker, and our target– the Lark Sparrows. We had barely entered the park … Read More
How we missed the Kirtland’s Warbler
[dc]W[/dc]hen we registered for The Biggest Week, Drew and I excitedly looked through the workshop and field trip offerings to pick something special to add to our week of birding. There was a long list of great field trips to area hotspots, expert keynote speakers, and birding workshops on the docket, but we found one thing that we knew we … Read More
Sora and other non-warblers at the Biggest Week!
There is a lot more than just warblers at the Biggest Week, and we have been lucky enough to come across quite a few pretty cool things! When we first got into town on Sunday night our first stop was Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. We wanted to be able to take advantage of the auto tour loop being open to … Read More
Rain Birding at the Biggest Week
[dc]M[/dc]onday morning was rainier than we expected, so we ended up parking at the west end of the Magee Marsh boardwalk and birded from the inside the car while the rain poured down, waiting for it to clear up enough for us to be able to walk around the boardwalk. Despite the heavy rain, warblers were moving eastward past us, … Read More
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