IMBD weekend, May 10 & 11

The way the weather predictions are looking now, we won’t have another big arrival of birds before or during the big weekend of International Migratory Bird Day (May 10 -11). But there shouldn’t be birds leaving before then, either, and there are a lot of species and individuals around right now. Almost all the migrant species have appeared. So this general area (Magee Marsh / Ottawa Natl Wildlife Refuge and nearby spots) currently holds most of the vireos and thrushes, about 30 species of warblers, and a wide variety of other migrants.

The winds have shifted around to northerly and they’re supposed to be some variation on north for the next few days. In these conditions you can still see a lot of birds but it will require a different strategy from what works when south winds bring in a big fallout. On a fallout day you can pick your spot close to the lake (like the Magee Boardwalk or the woodlot at Metzger) and just watch the parade go by. With these northerly winds, some of the birds in the area will move back away from the lakeshore, so to see a big variety you’ll need to visit more spots. Here are some suggestions (directions / maps for most of these can be found on the BSBO birding pages):

1. The woodlots at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge offer good shelter and often hold migrants for days. From the refuge entrance, if you go straight north to the old parking lot, the woods west and southwest of that lot are excellent. The auto tour at the refuge will be open both Saturday and Sunday and this is a great opportunity to look at superb habitat for marsh birds and waterbirds. If you haven’t seen the new (in 2007) visitors’ center, be sure to stop in.

2. The woods at the Magee Walking Trail (at the Sportsmen’s Migratory Bird Center) often have a lot of birds even on days when the Magee Boardwalk is relatively quiet because of north winds. The Gallagher Trail behind the BSBO nature center is also worth checking.

3. The woods at Maumee Bay State Park (boardwalk and trail behind the nature center) don’t seem to get huge fallouts of migrants but there are always some migrants there, and on non-fallout days they can be better than some of the famous migrant traps.

4. East Harbor State Park (just northeast of Port Clinton) is overlooked as a migrant trap but it is often excellent, and the woods there are extensive enough to hold birds for days. This can be very good for warblers and thrushes. One of my favorite areas is along the wooded trails south of the East Beach, and the beach and adjacent bay often have some interesting gulls, terns, or ducks.

5. If it rains, you can always go check flooded fields for shorebirds. But DO NOT PARK ON THE SHOULDER OF ROUTE 2 unless you are POSITIVE that you’re in a legal spot. Seriously, people are being ticketed for parking in unsafe places. Better to find a place on a side road, and even there, you need to be completely off the road. Recently there have been shorebirds on the south side of Route 2 just west of Russell Road (near the Wild Wings store and marina) but if you stop there, you’d best park down on Russell and walk back. The water in Metzger Marsh is still too high for most shorebirds, but it’s worth going out and looking at the beach for turnstones or others (and there are still diving ducks offshore there). Benton-Carroll Road south of Route 2 has been quiet recently, but Krause and Stange Roads (see directions on our birding pages) have been productive. The observation deck on Stange just south of Krause has yielded sightings of Wilson’s Phalarope and other shorebirds (you’ll need a scope here – or look near the southwest end of the Ottawa Refuge auto tour) and Yellow-headed Blackbirds are still being seen on Krause.

If you’re visiting from out of the area, we hope you’ll have a great time here. Please pick up one of our local bird checklists (or download a copy from our website) and if you see something that’s listed as "rare" or "very rare," please let someone know about it. At the BSBO nature center, the Sportsmen’s Migratory Bird Center, the Ottawa Natl Wildlife Refuge visitors’ center, and the Maumee Bay State Park nature center, you’ll find people who are keenly interested in birds and eager to give and receive information about sightings.

Predictions for migration, 5/7 and subsequently

Birders have been asking me for predictions about the next big wave of migrants, and I’ve been mulling over the weather maps and forecasts and trying to figure it out. We’ve had a lot of days and nights with major southerly wind flow over the last couple of weeks, so migrants haven’t really been dammed up to the south of us recently; they’ve been moving into the area in good numbers. That movement is likely to continue through Tuesday night and Wednesday (May 6 and 7), but then it appears that the winds will shift around to the north for several days. The migrants that are here now, or that come in tonight, are likely to stick around. This is good news for general birding because we have a lot of variety present in the area now. Later migrants like cuckoos and most flycatchers haven’t arrived yet, but most of the warblers are in, with more than 25 species in the general area every day now, along with thrushes, vireos, orioles, tanagers, a good mix of birds. And it’s worth remembering that even a slow day along the lakeshore will produce more birds than a good day at a migrant trap in the interior of the state.

The weather patterns for the next week aren’t very clear, and there’s a good chance the forecasts will change. But on the basis of current forecasts, I would guess that the coming weekend (May 10 and 11) will continue to have good variety but no massive fallout of migrants. Sunday might have more birds than Saturday. The next really big wave of migrants might not get here until the middle of next week, but the weather predictions that far out are so vague that I’m pretty much just guessing here!

"Crane Creek" entrance and BSBO center

Just a note for people who have noticed the change in the signs out front and who might be wondering about it. The big sign at the entrance road from Route 2 -- the sign that used to say "Crane Creek State Park / Magee Marsh Wildlife Area" – now just says "Magee Marsh Wildlife Area". Apparently the land that formerly made up Crane Creek State Park (the beach and about half the parking lot adjacent to the boardwalk, plus a small section on the entrance road) has been transferred to the Division of Wildlife, and will now be administered as a part of the wildlife area. I’m sure that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is planning to make some kind of official announcement about this, because they’re certainly aware that birders visit this area from all over the continent. But pending such an announcement, I wanted to post this "unofficial" note so that people wouldn’t be concerned about the change in signage.

Two notes on the BSBO nature center area: 1. The Evening Grosbeak that was at the feeders on Sunday May 4th has not been seen since. 2. There are still American Woodcocks displaying actively in the area south and west of the center, along the first part of the Gallagher Trail; they’re most active right at sunset, or around 8:30 pm.

Evening Grosbeak at BSBO nature center

News flash: there is an Evening Grosbeak at the feeders at the BSBO nature center (just north of Rt 2 at the entrance to Crane Creek / Magee Marsh) right now, just after 12:30 p.m. on Sunday May 4. I'm not aware of any being seen in n.w. Ohio within the last couple of months, so the arrival of this bird was a distinct surprise. More details later.

Magee area May 3

Weather was unsettled today (Saturday May 3) with numerous bands of rain moving through accompanying a passing front, but the birding was excellent. At least 28 species of warblers were recorded in the Magee Marsh / Ottawa NWR / Metzger Marsh area. Some of the highlights included Prairie Warbler (singing male) on the Wildlife Beach at Magee, Cerulean, Prothonotary, and Hooded Warblers on the Magee boardwalk, Orange-crowned and Yellow-throated Warblers in the woodlot at the end of the road at Metzger Marsh, and Yellow-breasted Chat on the Magee walking trail and on the Gallagher Trail behind the BSBO nature center. Yellow-rumped and Palm were still by far the most numerous warblers. A good variety of vireos, thrushes, sparrows, and other migrants such as Scarlet Tanagers and Indigo Buntings added to the diversity of the day.

The small woodlot at the end of the road at Metzger had a very high concentration of birds today, probably because there was a major hatch of midges and food was abundant. Warblers were swarming in the trees and bushes, while swallows (mostly Tree but with N. Rough-winged, Bank, Barn, and Purple Martin) were feeding on the lee side of the woodlot in the evening.

Shorebirds were scattered today -- water is high in most of the managed marshes in the area, so most of the shorebird habitat is in flooded farm fields. I looked at several such spots during the last couple of days (Benton-Carroll Road just south of Rt 2; south side of Rt 2 just west of Wild Wings store; Howard Rd half a mile north of Rt 2, etc.) and saw hundreds of Dunlins and fewer Least Sandpipers and yellowlegs, but not much more variety than that. If someone finds a really good shorebird habitat I hope they'll pass that news along.

Right now (after 9 p.m.) the winds are pretty strong out of the west. There's a major high-pressure system moving this way from the Great Plains, and the winds are likely to shift gradually from west to west-northwest by morning, with cooler temperatures (back down to the 40s). I am guessing that not many of today's birds will leave tonight. By Sunday morning (May 4), the skies should be clear and the wind should have died down somewhat. There may be slightly fewer birds around but conditions for viewing them should be more pleasant! With all the winds, it seems that something unusual ought to turn up -- maybe Franklin's Gull or American Avocet. But even without rarities, there is a lot of variety around right now!

Magee boardwalk update May 2

This is just a quick update before this evening. As predicted, a lot of migrants did move into the area by Thursday morning 5/1, with a big increase in numbers and variety. This morning (Friday 5/2) the variety was somewhat lower but numbers were still high, with the biggest concentrations along the boardwalk being very near the west end. A lot of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings have moved in, there are still tons of White-throated Sparrows but now also a lot of White-crowned and Lincoln's, more Baltimore Orioles have arrived. A number of Cape May Warblers were with the abundant Yellow-rumps and Palms, and many Northern Waterthrushes were present and singing. Between what I saw and what I heard about, there must have been at least 20 warbler species at the boardwalk today. There had been some turnover overnight Thursday night, and a lot of birds were moving during daylight Friday morning -- big flocks of Blue Jays coming over, lots of Lesser Yellowlegs and a scattering of other shorebirds flying along the lakeshore, Bobolinks flying over, big flocks of swallows and Chimney Swifts. This was before the major rain storms moved through (they hit the boardwalk about 11 a.m.; but now, a little after 2 p.m., it appears they're moving on out of the area). I doubt that many birds left with the passage of the rain, so the birding should still be good this evening for anyone who can get out there.

It appears that the strong southerly flow of air will continue through the night tonight, Friday night. Even though there will be scattered showers, I suspect that more birds will come in tonight. Birders who are willing to dodge some showers on Saturday morning should be treated to a lot of migrants. The weather should be drier and sunnier on Sunday May 4, and there may not be quite as many migrants around then, but it should still be very worthwhile.

Magee boardwalk April 30 and coming days

The area of Magee Marsh had unsettled (and cold!) weather this week, which did not seem to produce any big arrivals of birds. But not many departed, either. On the boardwalk at Magee Marsh many of the same birds from Sunday and Monday were still there today, Wednesday, April 30, creating a satisfying amount of action for the birders who were there. At least 16 species of warblers were seen on the boardwalk today, with some of the notables being at least two Worm-eating Warblers (between numbers 5 and 10 on the boardwalk -- Hugh Rose reports that the birds were singing and easily seen during the morning), Yellow-breasted Chat (near number 30), a very cooperative Hooded Warbler (around no. 5), two active singing N. Parulas (no. 3 to 7), and a male Pine Warbler (no. 21). White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers were still abundant, Swamp Sparrow numbers were increasing, and a couple of White-eyed Vireos were singing and foraging conspicuously near numbers 4-8 on the boardwalk. Some individual Swainson's and Wood Thrushes and Veeries appear to have been in exactly the same spots since Sunday.

Tonight (Wednesday night) the winds locally are mostly from the east, but the larger weather maps show that there is a major air flow out of the south coming from far to the south of us and into this general area. This overall flow looks like it will continue through Friday at least. I'm predicting that a lot of birds will be riding this system and will move into the general area of northwest Ohio over the next few days, but it's hard to say whether the biggest migration day will be Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (May 1, 2, or 3). They might all be good days. A lot will depend on what happens with local rain and where the migrants get put down by inclement weather. Scattered showers are predicted for Friday and Saturday but I don't think they'll prevent the migrants from getting here.

If you're in the area on Saturday, don't forget that there will be a free bird-banding demonstration at the BSBO nature center (just north of Rt. 2 at the entrance to Crane Creek / Magee Marsh) starting at 10 a.m. and running until 11:30. And the BSBO hotdog stand and snack bar will be open during the middle of the day, in case you need to pause and refuel during your own migration!

Magee Marsh April 28

As predicted, Saturday (April 26 -- Audubon's birthday) was the best migration day of the spring so far in the Magee area. Numbers and variety were both excellent, with more than 20 species of warblers present, including southern "overflight" species like Worm-eating and Prairie and some that typically come later, such as multiple Blackpoll Warblers. Most of the vireos and thrushes were recorded, with a lot of Veeries and Swainson's Thrushes. Gray Catbirds and Yellow Warblers arrived in force, and White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers were again abundant.

As usual after this kind of big influx, the birding continued to be quite good on following days, with the numbers and variety falling off gradually. There were still a lot of birds on Sunday and good numbers today, Monday 4/28.

Today I didn't go to the Magee boardwalk until late afternoon and it certainly seemed that the birding was getting better later in the evening, perhaps because of birds filtering in from other areas. After 7 p.m. there was a huge amount of activity near the west end of the boardwalk, even though it was cold and threatening to rain. At one point I had a dozen Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 30-odd warblers (Palm and Yellow-rumped), and at least 25 White-throated Sparrows around me, I was watching a Hooded Warbler and a Black-and-white Warbler while a Northern Parula and an Orchard Oriole were singing overhead, and I looked up to see an Osprey flying over carrying a fish. Lots of action! Of course the boardwalk is wonderful early in the morning, but it's worth remembering that it can also be very productive late in the day if that's the only time you can get there.

For some of today's birds that are likely to be around tomorrow as well -- the area near number 16 on the boardwalk had a lot of activity, including several Northern Waterthrushes. There are still a couple of Rusty Blackbirds near number 14 and a Winter Wren near number 4. Hooded Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler are being conspicuous between numbers 7 and 16. At least 3 Swainson's Thrushes were out working the north edge (beach side) of the west parking lot.

Tonight and Tuesday (4/29) are supposed to be fairly cold, with northerly winds and with rain tonight. The migrants that are currently in the area probably won't leave tonight, and on the basis of current weather predictions, I don't expect many to arrive before Thursday. We may get lucky again with the conditions setting things up for excellent birding again next weekend. But in the meantime there are enough birds around that it's worth getting out to any of the lakeshore migrant traps or any wooded areas if you get the chance during the week.