Weekend of April 26-27

Weather conditions seemed all wrong Thursday night (4/24), with winds mainly out of the east, but still there was a substantial arrival of migrants in the area overnight and a lot of birds around on Friday 4/25. Among the highlights reported were a Prairie Warbler at the woodlot at Metzger Marsh (Rick Nirschl and others) and a Worm-eating Warbler at the Magee boardwalk (observer?), plus more than a dozen other warbler species. There was also a good flight of Broad-winged Hawks during the day.

It looks like this weekend, April 26 and 27, should be excellent. There is still a strong wind flow out of the south but there is a weather front moving this way from the west; it appears the front will get here around dawn on Saturday, with rain and cooler temperatures, so any migrants that have gotten this far should be put down and should stay around.

Kim and I won't be there -- we're going over to the North Coast Nature Festival at Rocky River Reservation, put on by Cleveland Metroparks. (And the birding will be good there, too, of course!) If anyone is coming to Magee and wants some help finding birds, there's a guided birdwalk on Saturday morning put on by the Friends of Magee Marsh (meet at the west end of the boardwalk at 8:30) and one on Sunday sponsored by BSBO (meet at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory center at 8:00). These are free events. If you're birding the area on your own, don't forget that we have maps available for the Magee general area, for the boardwalk, and for Metzger Marsh, all of which can be downloaded if you follow the links to the right for Birding Hotspots.