Male Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

A pair of Prothonotary Warblers was exploring a nesting cavity in an old snag right by the boardwalk at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area on the Erie Shore in Ohio during the Biggest Week in American Birding. This panel shows the male at the hole, in various poses and postures. The Prothonotary is an eye-catching bird at any time, but this panel, I think, shows off some of its equally attractive personality…or birdality…or prothonotariality. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1250. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Bay-breasted Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

The birds may have been close and at or below eye-level on the last few days of the Biggest Week in American Birding, but that does not mean they were easy. Warblers rarely are. They were feeding so avidly and moving so fast through thick brush that it was difficult to catch them in the frame…and even more difficult to get unobstructed shots. Leaves were emerging rapidly and there always seemed to a twig or two (when there were not a dozen) between us and the birds. Still, persistence is the key. I probably took 5000 frames during the 10 days I was in Ohio. I imported 2500 of them to my iPad, and processed almost 600 keepers. And I was “working” the festival, so my time on the boardwalk was limited. This Bay-breasted Warbler is from my final turn around the boardwalk after closing up Optics Alley. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 400. Processed in Polarr. To give you an idea of how close the bird was, this is cropped only slightly from full frame.

Female Cape May Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

The last two days of the Biggest Week in American Birding were dark and rainy and cold, but among the best for seeing warblers close. The warblers were working the boardwalk on both sides at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area as close as I have ever seen them…often within 5 feet of us, and sometimes closer. With the 4 foot close focus of the Sony RX10iv at 600mm it made for some of my best warbler shots yet. This female Cape May Warbler is an attractive bird at any time. It lacks the bright flash of the male but its subtle coloring and acrobatic habits make it worth a second look. I especially like the posture in this portrait, hanging upside down to get at the delicate flowers. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1250. (I have my ISO set to Minimum Shutter Speed 1/500th to achieve the sharpest images…sometimes at the expense of higher ISOs.)

Blackburnian Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

Blackburnian Warblers get into all kinds of strange postures while actively feeding. They are a lot of fun to watch…flashing that brilliant ember of a throat. The birds were all working close to the boardwalk yesterday at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Oak Harbor Ohio for the final day of the Biggest Week in American Birding, and by early evening the sun had broken through. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

Tonight after we closed up at Optics Alley
at the Biggest Week in American Birding,
the warblers on the boardwalk at Magee
Marsh were working as close as you will
ever see them, closer than you will ever
see them anywhere other than Magee. Cape
May, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated
Blue, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, all within
feet and at, or below, eye-level, and lots of
Ovenbirds scurrying around in the leaf-litter
right under the boardwalk…but it was so
dark, with the lateness of the day and the
heavy overcast, in those dense swampy woods
that the camera struggled to focus and strained
at the limits of exposure. Still who could
resist those bright bodies in the dim light
teasing our trigger fingers and filling memory
cards, hoping against hope for those intimate
portraits of busy warblers at arm’s length.

Like I said in the poem…who can resist. This is an ISO 2500 shot, certainly pushing the limits of my Sony’s 1 inch sensor, but still…such a bird and such a pose! Chestnut-sided Warbler, close and totally unconscious of the admiring humans on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. This is what the Biggest Week in American Birding is all about. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 2500. Processed in Polarr.

Black-billed Cuckoo, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

One of the things about the Biggest Week in American Birding and Magee Marsh on the Erie Shore of northern Ohio is that you see all kinds of things you would not normally see. Like the Black-billed Cuckoo right out in the open, foraging in a tree by the parking lot for at least an hour, toward sunset. If you see them at all, they are generally deeply buried in foliage and skulking around. Of course the downside is that at least 150 other photographers have this same or very similar shots of this same bird. What can you do? Take your shot and enjoy it. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

American Redstart, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

So I was leaving the boardwalk at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ohio on my second Thursday at the Biggest Week in American Birding, when this American Redstart jumped up into a tree 4 feet from the boardwalk and began to sing in my ear. What could I do? I took a whole burst of pics! Then he came closer and I had to back up to keep him in focus. It is a hard life for a photographer here on the Erie Shore in Ohio. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 500. Processed in Polarr. And I did eventually make it back to the car.

Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

After having some fun with the Prothonotary Warbler yesterday, here is a more classic approach. This male Prothonotary was excavating a nest hole along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area on the Erie Shore in northern Ohio in the late light of yesterday evening. He was so busy he paid no attention to the humans watching him. He also inspired a Day Poem.

Today’s Prothonotary Warbler was a male,

busy excavating a nest hole in a snag about

4 feet from the boardwalk at Magee Marsh,

well below eye-level, hopping around on

the boardwalk rails and his snag within feet

of the facinated humans watching him. Such

aplum. Such self-assurance. Such confidence.

Only a Prothonotary would dare, and of

course we are delighted that he does. We

are ignited that he does…so bright, so bold,

so very very Prothonotary. Such a bird!

Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1000. Processed in Polarr.

Prothonotary Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

We found a very cooperative Prothonotary Warbler along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area on the Erie shore in Ohio. One of those ones that starts out close and comes closer…all but too close for my 4 foot close focus. When processing the images I was struck with how much a Prothonotary Warbler in certain poses looks like one of those marshmallow candy chicks…Peeps. And of course I had to share that profound insight…which made a Day Poem.

Going through my photos from the morning

I came to a series of shots of a Prothonotary

Warbler, doing that thing where it sits on a

branch facing you and puffs its feathers out

so it is perfectly round, and it’s beak is all

forshortened against its face, and it has those

big black eyes like candy buttons and I thought,

“it looks just like one of those marshmallow

chicken chicks…” Peeps, I think they are

called. Prothonopeep? Peeponotary Warbler?

Something like that. I shared it with the

ZEISS crew and Melissa and Catherine

burst out laughing. I said, “you will never

be able to eat a Peep again.” Melissa said,

“I don’t eat Peeps anyway.” And Catherine

said, “Yes but you will never be able to

unsee that.” Prothonopeep or Peeponatary

Warbler, either way, either one. Indelible.

Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 160 @ f4. Processed in Polarr.

Palm Warbler, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio

Sometimes circumstances just conspire for a great photo. Early evening light on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and a very close Palm Warbler, and me being there at just that moment, is such a confluence of circumstance. Okay, it is “only” a Palm Warbler, perhaps the second most common warbler in the USA pretty much everywhere (and the most common where it is not second), but still, we take what we get and are happy, thank you! Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 125. Processed in Polarr.