Posts in Category: Ohio
Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warbler: Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio. USA, May 2022 — While looking for my life-photo-op for a Canada Warbler around the Metzger Marsh parking area, I spent a while in front to this tree long the dike above the parking watching a variety of warblers hunting among the catkins. This Tennessee was among them. 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.
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird: Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — One morning later in the Biggest Week in American Birding, I went to Metzger Marsh instead of the boardwalk, as I had heard reports of several Canada Wablers there the morning before, and I had yet to see, let alone photograph a Canada Warbler. I posted that pic a while ago, my first ever of Canada Warbler. 🙂 While there, of course, being the Erie Shore and May, there were lots of other birds. This Red-winged Blackbird, which just might be the most numerous common bird in North America, was insistent that we all take note that this was his patch! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Mourning Warbler
Mourning Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — The Mourning Warbler is a hard bird to see, let alone photograph, at least at Magee, where they tend to say low in the vegetation, mostly under the ground cover. And there is a LOT of ground cover at Magee this year, due to the massive blow-down of the mature cottonwoods that used to provide shade for the forest floor. This one hopped up on a twig two inches above ground for a brief look-around, just as I came up on a group of birders who had been tracking it by the movement of the undergrowth for twenty minutes already. 🙂 Right place, right time, and ready! That is my wildlife photography recipe in a nutshell. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Cedar Waxwing among the Apple Blossoms
Cedar Waxwing: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — There is almost always a crowd of photographers under the apple tree that blooms in May along the Magee Marsh Boardwalk. There are often birds among the blossoms, and it makes a very attractive setting. I have photographed a dozen species of warblers there, as well as Baltimore Oriole and, of course, Cedar Waxwing. The Cedar Waxwings eat the apple flowers, and there can be many in the tree at once when they come through. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5.6 @ 1/1000th, minus .7 EV. Difficult lighting.
Prothonotary: I spy a spider!
Prothonotary Warbler: Magee Marsh Boardwalk, Oak Harbor, Ohio, USA, May 2022 — All the warblers at Magee during the Biggest Week in American Birding are busy hunting and gleaning, but none more obviously than the Prothonotary. I caught this one picking spiders out of webs right by the boardwalk, paying no attention to me only a few feet away. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
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.