Posts in Category: Ohio
Magee Marsh Wide with Clouds
Taking a break from birds for a day, here is the scene on the way into Magee Marsh on Sunday Morning. This is a sweep panorama using the Samsung Galaxy S4 phone camera. I have experimented with sweep panoramas on Sony cameras a few generations ago, and found the results disappointing, but the technology, at least as implemented by Samsung, has come a long way. I did this with the phone in vertical position, to capture maximum pixels. The full shot is 10840×2776 (cropped slightly when straightening the horizon) and covers, as you see by the road, close to 180 degrees. You can see the image at your full screen resolution by clicking HERE.
But of course, it is more than a technical exercise. I love the clouds, the blue of the water, the sweep of the early sun across the marsh. And the phone has captured it all very well. And in one long slow steady sweep. Not about the technology, but the technology is amazing just the same.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Yellow Warbler Wow! Magee Marsh
Yesterday, the final day of the Biggest Week in American Birding, was one of those amazing days that only happen at Magee Marsh. The warblers were passing through in great numbers, and they were feeding low in the undergrowth and lower branches of the sheltering trees, and very close to the boardwalk. Saturday was actually as good for warblers…but Saturday was overcast, and on Sunday we had intermittent sun… adequate light makes a huge difference when photographing birds.
This Yellow Warbler was just within the 4.5 foot focus range of the Canon SX50HS. In fact, I had to back off on full zoom to get this much of the bird in the frame. I was using the 1.5x digital tel-converter so this is still at over 1600mm equivalent field of view. It is almost a tel-macro of the bird. Certainly the feather detail is amazing. If you want to pixel peep, a larger version can be seen here.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1672mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/200th @ ISO 80. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Wood Thrush Sings: Magee Marsh. Happy Sunday!
It is not often that you see a Wood Thrush, let alone see one singing out in plain sight. This one was no more than 20 feet from the boardwalk yesterday at Magee Marsh and delighted a small group of birders at the Biggest Week in American Birding for a good 20 minutes before moving on. It was a one of those moments that will be remembered, and treasured, by all who shared it (with the possible exception of the Wood Thrush).
I even remembered to shoot some video so you can hear the song.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1800mm equivalent field of view. Video was handheld.
And for the Sunday thought. Despite threatening rain, poor light, and low temperatures, yesterday was as good as I have ever seen Magee Marsh. There were warblers, sparrows, natcatchers, flycatchers, thrushes, tanagers, orioles, grosbeaks, egrets…everywhere. They were down low and close in to the boardwalk. It was very special. Among the huge crowd of birders, there was a hush. Gone were the mobs gathered to see a single good bird that clogged the boardwalk during the past week (as well as the shouted instructions of the professional guides). There were clumps of birders where there were clumps of birds, but never such a crush that you could not pass…and never such a crush that you could not see. Twice I had warblers working and feeding within arm’s reach. You could stand in one place and watch 10 warblers of 3 species glean the fresh leaves for bugs. I came back after a 90 minute loop once around the boardwalk feeling satisfyingly full of birds, full of delight…content…deeply happy. What a gift!
And it was not a feeling you had to be a birder to appreciate. Many, maybe a majority, of the people on the boardwalk yesterday were civilians…folks for whom birding is not a major preoccupation or recreation…just plain folks drawn by the rumor (and the media accounts) of something special happening at Magee Marsh on International Migration Day. And they were in the zone! They were just as delighted and just as amazed as those of us who could actually identify the birds we were seeing. You didn’t even really need binoculars or any skill with them. The birds were that close! A treat, a blessing, anyone with eyes and ears could appreciate.
Hence the hush. The happy low current of laughter. The occasional quiet cry of outright delight. Surrounded by bird song and birds in motion, the humans just naturally fell into an attitude of true worship. Souls opened. Delight flowed in and out with every breath. People smiled at each other…smiled at the birds…smiled at the songs…smiled in themselves. And we knew, every one of us, that we were in the presence of a miracle…in the zone of the holy…caught in a flow of love that can only be called divine.
I, for one, wish church could be like that more than it is. That is all it would take, really, to put faith back at the center of lives. Just a regular dose of deep delight in the presence of wonder!
House Wren City at Magee Marsh
It is House Wren city at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week in American Birding celebration this year. They are everywhere. They are singing. They are scuttling in the undergrowth. They are climbing on stumps and trees. The are contesting nest sites with Tree Swallows. They are everywhere and showing every sign of nesting right here in the marsh. Which is okay.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. 1200mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
House Wrens are nothing if not entertaining!
Swan in Flight
I was observing Tundra Swans, and when this bird took off and flew overhead I was sure that was what I was photographing. Rats. Just a Mute Swan. This aggressive non-native species is competing with the native swans over most of their range, and has become a nuisance in many areas. Still it is a beautiful bird, especially in flight. The soft light of an overcast morning only adds to the beauty.
Crane Creek Estuary behind Magee Marsh, OH.
Canon SX50HS in Sports Mode. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Baybreasted in Song: Magee Marsh
Birding has been slow the past few days at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding. There are high hopes for this morning as the weather patterns were predicted to be favorable for a pile up of birds at Magee overnight. Time will tell.
In the meantime here is a Bay-breasted Warbler in full song from Sunday.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for Intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Blanding’s and Painted Turtle: Magee Marsh
It is not all warblers all the time, or even all birds all the time, at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding. I found these two turtles along the large canal by the eastern section of the boardwalk. We have a rare (relatively) Blanding’s Turtle and a super abundant Painted Turtle sharing the same perch.
Blanding’s is listed as endangered by ICUN Red List, and has threatened status in a number of states and all of Canada. Unless I am much mistaken this is my second sighting of this individual. The pattern of moss on its shell is quite distinctive. The first time, 3 days go, it was crossing under the boardwalk most of a mile from this log.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 640. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Wood Cock: Magee Marsh
There were more birders and less birds at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding yesterday. And the crew from the CBS Sunday Morning show was there, doing interviews and filming on the boardwalk. (Watch for the segment on Memorial Day weekend.) I spent the morning run, before reporting to the Optics Alley tent at Blackswamp Bird Observatory, doing a live action, point of view video of the boardwalk with a head mounted HD action cam. Fun! I have edited in some still shots of birds this morning and will be uploading the finished video to youtube in a few moments.
This is a Wood Cock. There are several pairs establishing nesting territories. One beside the boardwalk, and two out in the parking areas. The parking lot pairs are behind “incident tape” for protection (mostly from photographers :). This bird is just behind the parking lot.
Canon SX50HS in my usual program mode. 1800mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Bay-breasted Warbler: Happy Sunday!
One of the interesting things about Magee Marsh in the first days of May is that the cast of characters changes daily. New warblers and other migrants arrive daily. On Thursday there were no American Redstarts. On Friday there were. Saturday’s arrivals included Cerulean Warbler and Bay-breasted, Summer Tanager, and Whippoorwill (or at least Whippoorwill was seen for the first time on Saturday…it is hard to tell if Whippoorwills are around unless you hear them call).
This Bay-breasted Warbler was not a cooperative as it might look from the burst of shots above. It was certainly close. At one point it landed no more than 2 feet from my face for a second. But it was fast! It did not perch anywhere for more than that few seconds, and it stayed well hidden in the emerging leaves most of the time. I was there 20 minutes before I managed this sequence.
Canon SX50HS in my usual long zoom configuration. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 1200mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And for the Sunday Thought. Awe and wonder are central to my experience of God…and I firmly believe that anyone still capable of awe and wonder is still open to God, whether or not they know it. Out on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh the level of awe and wonder is so high (among the birders gathered there) that you can almost taste it, and I am pretty sure you can smell it if your nose sensitive enough. 🙂 It fills the air like sunshine, whether the sun is shining or not. If you have never been around birders when bright spring warblers are flitting around heads and through binocular fields…where there are literally birds where ever you look, then it may stretch the imagination when I describe the level of excitement. I heard one young lady say, when her mother pointed out yet another warbler in the brush beside the boardwalk: “I know mom, but I just can’t look at them all. I don’t know which way to turn!”
The two other emotions that run high on the boardwalk, and are also hallmarks of my experience of God, are delight and anticipation (hope). These birders are enjoying the warblers they see. You only have to listen to the delighted cries (no shouting, of course, these are birders among birds) that sound through the marshy forest of Magee to know just how happy these people are. And anticipation fills every birder that joins a crowd on the boardwalk where something rare has been seen.
The emotion that I can only hope is also there, since it is not so readily observed, is thanksgiving. Even I, who know better, can get so caught up in the awe and the wonder and the delight and the anticipation and forget to let myself feel the thanksgiving. That is what this morning is about. This moment I am letting myself feel the full rich flow of my thanksgiving for the privilege of being here…for the God who shares his creation with his children in bright warblers at Magee each spring.
A Second Helping of Magee Marsh
I promise not to show you every warbler and every bird I find at Magee Marsh, but here is a second helping at least. (And I promise not to lead off with a Blackburnian every post from The Biggest Week in American Birding, unless, of course, I have an image like this one…which I just can not resist 🙂
Again yesterday I only managed an hour on the boardwalk. I did not even get there until just before 6PM. There were a lot of warblers! I am sure it was totally amazing earlier in the day. And there were many new species, just arrived, like this Black-throated Blue and the Nashville beyond. I had a lot of fun trying for a decent image of the Ovenbird as it feed deep in the undergrowth.
Of course it is not all warblers all the time at Magee Marsh. An American Woodcock or two were drawing crowds, as was the Eastern Screech owl (who has found a new perch this year).
And, just so you don’t think warblers have the corner on color at Magee Marsh, I will finish up with this Rose-breasted Grosbeak…certainly one of the most vivid birds in North America.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Control. -1/3EV exposure compensation. Mostly 1200mm equivalent field of view. Lightroom processing for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.