My Biggest Week in American Birding!

After we got home from Argentina last summer, I began looking for another place to take bird pictures here in the lower 48. I came across a web site that listed Florida, Arizona, Texas and some other obvious locations that I have been to before.  It listed however as the favorite location of the particular author a place called Magee Creek in Oregon, Ohio.  I had never heard of it before, but decided to plan for the Warbler migration season to head that direction.

More on that in a minute though.  The reality of trial law work is that your schedule is always changing, always subject to the whims of the court, and if you are going to do anything else, it has to be carefully choreographed.  After getting through the planning process, it ended up looking pretty crazy between Paula and I.  Here is the reality of the travel for the last couple of weeks:

                  Paula                                                                   Rich
May 2        Depart for Boston 5 am                             To Vegas 3 pm
May 3        Grandma in Windsor                                  Speak CAI Vegas
May 4        To Bridgeport for Huy Graduation             Visit St. George Office
May 5        To New York with Michelle, Anders          Speak in LV head to Detroit
May 6         Maddie and Eddie.  Museums, Parks         No Sleep, Meet Brig,  Bird
May 7         Playgrounds, Buggy rides etc.                    Bird Ohio
May 8         Return to Windsor                                       Bird Ohio
May 9         Grandma in Windsor                                 Return to Windsor via Boston
May 10-13  Parrish house repair/maintenance and being Grandparents in Windsor......Fun!!!
May 14            Return to Portland

SOOOO.  I decided to see if I could do a BIG WEEK.  Many are familiar with a BIG YEAR, the competition where birders travel all over North America to determine who can see the most birds in a single year.  This is grueling, expensive and impossible for me right now, but I decided to do a big week since I was going to be in Oregon, Nevada, Southern Utah, Ohio and Vermont in a 7 day period.  Whew!!   It was fun, got to see a lot of birds, and actually ticked off 274 in those 7 days (of which only 5 were actual birding days). 

 

 So my photo journal starts in this post with some birds that I was able to get in the Vegas area.  Las Vegas is a desert, but the water, where you can find it does attract birds.  Here are a few that I got at a spot about 20 miles west of the city in what was a virtual ghost town called Corn Creek.

The very striking Wilson's Warbler



 

 

 The bold Broad-Tailed Hummingbird



 

 

 The Majestic Western Kingbird

 

 And a very Handsome Bullock's Oriole



 

 Right in the middle of town a tree full of young Yellow-Headed Blackbirds was pretty impressive.



No matter how common they might be, I do love the personality of the Grackle's.



 Lot's more birds at this location, but this is already going to be an annoyingly long post!

Early Saturday morning, I decided to run quickly out to Henderson (right next to Las Vegas) to the bird area that has been developed there.   And I got a LIFER!  Not that hard a bird, but the Red Necked Phalarope has evaded me for years!  Well I got it at this very cool bird sanctuary called the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve.  Tough photo a long way off into the sun, but there is no doubt that I can tick this one off.



 This little guy has a very distinctive "sewing machine" behavior as it repeatedly dips it's bill in the water as it feeds.



 Lot of fun birds at this location and I could have spent hours, but even in about 45 minutes, got a total of 27 species at just this one spot!

Yellow Warblers



Yellow Rumped Warblers

 

 Ducks like the Ruddy




 Grebes

 

Flycatchers



 And Swallows!



I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  As for Las Vegas, I even got some shots at the Flamingo Hotel!  They have an outdoor wildlife area back near the pools! Some really fun stuff. (I couldn't count the captive birds for the Big Week list.)

Flamingo of course!

 

Sacred Ibis

 

 

 Handsome Hooded Merganser



 Cinnamon Teal



And Ringed Teal



Many many more, but we need to move on.  Before we do however, I think it is time to include the mystery critter for this post.  Yes it is buried pretty deep, but Anders seems to be really working these lately, having won the last 2.  Anybody else want to take a shot at this one?  Seen on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Ohio.

 

 

 Ok, so far we have been looking at birds that I got in just a couple of hours on Friday and Saturday morning of this Big Week. I had gotten 41 in the morning before I left Portland, just in my backyard.  By the time I left Nevada, I was at 93 species (not counting the captives at the Flamingo Casino), and really just getting started.  I spoke in Vegas on Saturday at 3 pm.  My flight out to Detroit was at 5:15, so it was a little tight, but my partner Bruce Jenkins from St. George who was speaking with me delivered me on time, and I was off to Detroit.  Arriving at a little after 1 in the morning, Brig had a car already, and we headed down to the bird area in Ohio, east of Toledo.  In the little berg of Oregon, Ohio, we were about to immerse ourselves in the real "Biggest Week in American Birding".  Put together by the famous birder Ken Kaufman. this is pretty wild!



 Often when I am out birding, I may be the only one with a big lens.  Not so here.  Out of the estimated 65,000 (yep that's right) birders gathered in northern Ohio, there were literally hundreds of birders kitted out with 400, 600, 800mm lenses, long fire flashes, high ISO camera's etc.  It was pretty impressive.

Brig and I got there before dawn and were already seeing birds by 6 am.  Lot's of Warblers on the famous Magee Marsh boardwalk, including the following:

Blackpoll Warbler



 Magnolia Warbler

 

 The Ubiquitous Yellow-Rumped Warbler



 Black and White Warbler



 Chestnut Sided Warbler



 

 Palm Warbler



 

 American Redstart

 

 

 



 Northern Parula



 

Nashville Warbler

 

 And the closely related Tennessee Warbler

 

We saw a lot more species of Warbler including Black-Throated Green,  Mourning, Connecticut etc. etc.  But of all the Warblers we saw, I think my favorite was the Prothonotary Warbler with it's beautiful sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet ringing out in the swamp.  These little guys like to sit at eye level, are pretty tame, and just sing their hearts out!





 

Before I leave the Warblers, there is a picture that I have yet to identify.  If anyone out there knows what this is, please advise!  I suspect it may be a juvenile, but sure can't tell you what it is.





Lot's of other birds were seen along the south shore of Lake Erie.  But I have to admit that the most interesting thing about this trip was the people phenomenon.  This was a BIG DEAL.  Ken and Kim Kaufman own a facility at the entrance to Magee Marsh.  Ken is the long time author of my favorite field guide.  They were blogging bird locations throughout the week.  Greg Miller, the guy who Jack Black played in The Big Year was there, and many more.  Great seminars, including one that Brig and I attended where a college professor had converted bird song into written music.  We even had a chance to go with a group to observe the incredible flight of the American Woodcock at dusk.  The number of people was remarkable.

 





Quite a few folks just parking lot birded, apparently with really good results.




So just a few more birds from the Ohio part of the trip before I close.   I want to blog the Vermont part of the trip in a different post so I can feature the baseball playing all star grandkids!

Just a sampling:



Egrets and Herons





Baltimore Oriole, the cousin to the Bullock's seen in Vegas





Including the female



Lurking in the swampy wet forest floor were species like the Veery,





And the Northern Waterthrush



Even a distant look at a Wood Thrush



Several species of Woodpecker, including the Downy



And the Red Bellied Woodpecker



It is always good to renew acquaintance with the Grey Catbird, which we don't have in the NW.





This Olive Sided Flycatcher was a lifer for me



Magee Marsh is adjacent to the Ottowa National Wildlife Refuge.  At it's headquarters we saw my first Trumpter Swan.  I was surprised at its brown neck.  Apparently it get's stained from the mud on the bottom of the ponds.



At the headquarter building, and in a number of other locations nearby, we enjoyed seeing the Purple Martin condos which were very well used!





It was fun to the the Canada Goose families





And to see and hear the Red Wing Blackbird



We got the first confirmation of the Blue Gray Gnatcatcher and added it to the list of birds seen during the festival.





Lincoln Sparrow



Black Capped Chickadee

 

 Northern Cardinal



Tree Swallow

 

 House Wren



 

 Rose Breasted Grosbeak



Whew!  In any event you get the idea.  This really was a Big Week!!!!

So I think I will finish with some photos of the American Icon, the Bald Eagle.  Seen on the main road just outside the Refuge, this nesting Bald is a good example of just how this bird is coming back from near extinction to being seen nearly all over the country today.