Posts in Category: Magee Marsh
Prothonotary: prodigious singer
Prothonotary Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio. USA, May 2022 — The Prothonotary Warbler is a prodigious singer, as anyone who lives in their nesting territory can testify. And, at least at Magee during the Biggest Week in American Birding, they often sing right in your face! They are not shy about it at all! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Magnolia Warbler in Ohio
Magnolia Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — though I have been sharing some local Odonata and wildlife, I am only half way through the photos I took in Ohio in May during the Biggest Week in American Birding…and some of the remainder simply MUST be shared ( 🙂 ) This is one more of the thousands of Magnolia Warblers who begged to have their photo taken during the week I was there. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Palm Warbler
Palm Warbler: Magee Marsh area, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — This photo was actually taken on the Estuary Trail beyond the boardwalk at Magee, while I was out there the first morning the Kirtland’s Warbler was spotted…and, surprisingly, it is the only Palm Warbler I saw in my week of the Biggest Week in American Birding. I did not see the Kirtlands that morning, but I did see one along the boardwalk later that day. 🙂 I was happy with this Palm, and a bunch of the more common warblers as I worked both sides of the forest stand on the point where Crane Creek meets Lake Erie. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Eastern Whippoorwill
Eastern Whippoorwill: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio. USA, May 2022 — While in Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding, I lead two workshops called “Point and Shoot for Warblers” along the east end of the boardwalk at Magee. Of course we are looking for warblers…it is May at Magee…but we will look at other birds if they beg for attention 🙂 This Whippoorwill was perched for the day about 6 feet from the base of the boardwalk and slightly below the level of our feet…well hidden among the leaves and branches of one of the thicker sections of the wet forest. Hard to see. I don’t know who saw it first…that is how it mostly is at Magee in May on the boardwalk…you come up on a group of birders all looking at something in the forest and just ask (or are often told before you can ask) and just about every person who passes that spot gets to see. And a Whippoorwill will sit in the same spot all day unless someone pokes it with a stick (parish the thought!). It required a bit of jockeying to get an angle with anything like a clear shot, but there you have it. Whippoorwill! Sony Rx10iv at 561 and 600mm. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 and 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.
Chestnut-sided Warbler with lunch
Chestnut-sided Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — I mentioned in a previous post that the magic of Magee Marsh is as much about bugs as it is birds…it is the combination of location, right up against a large water barrier, and the abundance of insect life in the wet forest, that cause the pile-up of migrating and resident warbler species along the boardwalk. And the reason the warblers are so easy to observe and photograph is a combination of access (the boardwalk itself) and the fact that the warblers are feeding at eye-level, and so busy feeding that they pay little attention to the people gathered to see them. My best guess would not be much use as to what kind of insect this is…so I am not going to try…but it is large enough to give the Chestnut-sided Warbler pause before swallowing. Happy bird. Happy birders. Happy bird photographers. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .7EV exposure compensation.
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — Warbling Vireos were as numerous as any of the warblers at Magee Marsh this year during the Biggest Week in American Birding, but there were at least a few White-eyed Vireos and the Philadelphia Vireos began to come through late in the week. This is, in fact, the only White-eyed Vireo I saw, but it posed very nicely for its photo. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th. + .7EV exposure compensation.
Nashville Warbler
Nashville Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — I try not to be one of those “shoot first and ask questions later” types of bird photographers, but I have to admit that I only “found” these photos of a nice Nashville Warbler when going through my photos for processing the week after my visit to Ohio and the Biggest Week in American Birding. I do not remember taking them, and I certainly did not identify this bird as a Nashville Warbler at the time. I would have been more excited…as it would have been a new species for the trip and the year. Still, here is the evidence that I did see one. This was a favorite tree for Warblers the whole week I was there, and I photographed several different species there, so maybe I thought I was photographing something else. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 and f5 @ 1/1000th. + .7 EV exposure compensation.
White Pelicans in Ohio!
White Pelican: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — Maybe it is just me, but I don’t immediately think of White Pelicans when I think of Ohio. Considering the long shoreline of Lake Erie, maybe I should, but I don’t. So I was surprised to look up from the boardwalk at Magee and see a large flock of them coming overhead. I even managed to get my camera up in time. 🙂 I happened to be with a “local” at the time, and she assured me that they are common along the Erie shore, and had already been in Ohio for more than a month at that point during the Biggest Week in American Birding in mid-May. Who knew? Sony Rx10iv at 526mm equivalent. Program mode with my “birds-in-flight” modifications (I have BIF programed into the AEL button, so I just swung the camera up, pressed the AEL button, zoomed out a bit to frame a section of the flock, and shot.) Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5 @ 1/1000th. + .7 EV for the backlight.
Yellow song!
Yellow Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — most years the Yellow Warbler, which nests in Ohio, is the most abundant warbler at Magee during the Biggest Week in American Birding, and it probably was this year too, though it seems some days to be outnumbered by the Magnolia Warblers passing through. The Yellow is certainly the most vocal of the warbler of spring at Magee. They are always singing. This is a full adult male letting everyone know that he is on territory and ready of business! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + .3EV exposure compensation.
First breeding season male Magnolia Warbler?
Magnolia Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — Besides abundant full adult male Magnolia Warblers and lots of breeding plumage females, there were a lot of these birds at Magee this year. I am thinking this is a male just coming into its first breeding season plumage. I had to look at every one of them, trying to make one of them, at least, into a Canada Warbler…but no, they were all Magnolias (I did see and photograph both a male and female Canadas toward the end of the week…but this is not one 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/800th.