Black-billed Cuckoo. Magee Marsh Ohio

I don’t often get to see cuckoos. In fact I can count my sightings, all well away from my Maine home, on the fingers of one hand, and I have never, until this week, had what I would call a really good view. Not that this is a really good view…but it is my best so far. 🙂 I post it this morning, in part, as a reminder that Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding, while it is justifiably famous for warblers, is not just about warblers. The Black-billed Cuckoo, for many people was the best bird of the past two days.

The woods at Magee are full of migrating birds. There are droves of Orioles, flocks of Blue Jays, at least two species of Tanager, White-throated Sparrows, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, singing wrens and flitting gnatcatchers, and several varieties of Thrush. And that is on top, of course, of all the warblers.

That is, again in part, the wonder of birding. No where is the amazing variety of creation more obvious than when studying birds. And no where is that variety more obvious than at Magee Marsh in the spring. It is good to be here. And that, along with the Black-billed Cuckoo, is enough reason to give praise and thanks this Sunday! Happy Sunday!