Posts in Category: biggest week in american birding
Nashville Warbler
Not the brightest warbler in the bunch, the Nashville Warbler is still and attractive little bird, with a complex coloration. Notice the slight brown cap above the complete eye-ring. It is one of those warblers that got its name, incorrectly, in passing, since Alexander Wilson happened to see one in Nashville, Tennessee while it was migrating north to its breeding territory. The western race was once considered a separate species, the Calaveras Warbler. I got to watch this eastern specimen foraging for several minutes along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Erie shore of northern Ohio during the Biggest Week in American Birding. It was one of those rare occasions during the event when I was all alone with the bird. There was on one else near me on the boardwalk. I had the Nashville all to myself and it had my full attention. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Scarlet Tanager
Among the other non-warblers active in the spring passage of Magee Marsh, on the Erie shore in Northern Ohio each May, are the Tanagers, both Summer and Scarlet. One of the rare sunny days during this year’s Biggest Week in American Birding there was a group of three male Scarlet Tanagers and a female working the thickets between the boardwalk and the pond. They were paying a lot more attention to each other than they were to us and came in close and at eye-level. I don’t think there is anything redder in nature than a Scarlet Tanager…though, as in this shot, the sun can bring out the almost orange highlights. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
House Wren with lunch
While warblers are the stars of the show during the Biggest Week in American Birding along the Erie shore of Northern Ohio every May, it is hard to ignore the numbers of House Wrens along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. This year there seemed to great numbers. They were hunting in the leaf litter and singing from low branches everywhere. I caught this one in the act of dispatching a spider. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Northern Parula
The Biggest Week in American Birding is officially over for another year, but of course the birds are still coming north in numbers. This is a Northern Parula singing above the boardwalk at Magee Marsh on the Ohio shore of Lake Erie. A perky little bird, often hidden by leaves. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Blackburnian Warbler
Though it has not been a particularly great week for photography during the Biggest Week in American Birding along the Erie shore in Ohio…too many rainy dark days, and birds, when here, more interested in feeding than in posing…still I could not finish out the week without my yearly Blackburnian Warbler shot. The Blackburnian is perhaps my favorite warbler so I dedicated most of a morning to finding one, or rather a good photo of one, yesterday. I was almost back to the car and so far unsuccessful, when I spotted a group of photographers along the edge of the road in the parking lot and went over to see what they were doing. Blackburnian! Not my best shot ever, but still respectable. And there is me happy for another year. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Black and White Warbler
The Black and White Warbler is your classic tree creeper, often caught head down on a tree trunk or limb looking for insects in the bark. Tree cleaners. There are often several hundred at a time along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding in May, on the Erie shore in Northern Ohio. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Common Yellowthroat
The Common Yellowthroat is indeed common. It has a range that covers all of North America and the Caribbean except the arctic shield and its loud whichity-whichity-whichity song is part of the sound-track of thickets and tangles throughout. It is more often glimpsed than properly seen as it skulks deep in those thickets and tangles. This one, seen along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding, sat still long enough so that I could maneuver for a clear line of sight through the tangle. Eventually it even turned its head to give me a classic Common Yellowthroat portrait. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Catbird, catbird
There are always lots of Catbirds coming through Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding, and they are always entertaining. This one seemed to find the birders equally interesting. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Magnolia Warbler
There are many beautiful warblers at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding, and the Magnolia has to be among the most beautiful. It is also quite likely to be feeding at eye-level and close to the boardwalk. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Kirtland’s Warbler
The Kirtland’s Warbler is kind of the holy grail of warblers. They breed in rapidly disappearing young Jack Pine forests with grassy openings mostly in Michigan, and winter in the Bahamas. They are also subject to cowbird nest predators. Numbers dropped as low as 500 individuals in the 70s, all breeding in a the single remaining six square mile patch of Jack Pine…before an aggressive recovery plan was developed to both protect nesting birds and increase the available suitable Jack Pine forest. Every year a few come through the Erie shore of Ohio during (before and after) the Biggest Week in American Birding. A few of those are actually seen. When one is found the word goes out on the birding grapevine (twitter, facebook, ebird, etc) very quickly. This year, for whatever reason, there have been at least 4 sightings in as many days. Yesterday there were two (actually three as there were two at one site) seen at the same time a few miles apart. When I got to one of the spots, a residential area right up against the lake shore, the bird had already been showing for over 2 hours, and was still happily singing in a tree right over the road with about 30 birders in attendance. It was my first Kirtlands and it was almost too easy :). Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.