Birding Magee Marsh – a postcard from Ohio

For this month’s post, I’m going to share some images from a special place just south of the Canadian border…the self-proclaimed ‘Warbler Capital of the World’: Ohio’s Magee Marsh wildlife refuge. Located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Magee is a magical birding spot. I had the opportunity to spend 3 wonderful days at the refuge during the height of spring migration in mid-May, and spent almost 10 hours each day photographing (or at least trying to!) the many, many songbirds that were present. I had only visited Magee briefly once before, but I was told by others (and have heard since as well) that this year was a particularly good one for the amount and variety of birds that were seen…so I consider myself very lucky!

By virtue of its location and habitat, Magee is a ‘migrant trap’: the refuge is the last land before a major non-stop water crossing (Lake Erie) for migrating birds, and is also one of the few oases of preserved natural swamp/woodland in a sea of cleared farmland. Indeed, I personally tallied 22 warbler species, not to mention many other songbirds (vireos, thrushes, etc) and many other birds species as well. While I had seen some of them before (usually in their southward migration in late summer/fall), I had only seen a few in their full spring ‘breeding plumage’ glory and some of the warblers seemed to glow – the Blackburnians especially so!

Of course, with such a reputation, the refuge attracts thousands of birders and it can get pretty cramped on the narrow boardwalks at times but just about everyone was very polite and understanding which made for an enjoyable experience for all.

Magee really has to be experienced to be believed, and personally, I have to say that on my visit it lived up to the hype. I took literally thousands of photos and have tried to sift out my favourites…so here they are. Hopefully they convey something of Magee’s birding magic!

Blackburnian Warbler (my personal fave):

Black-throated Green Warbler:

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow Warbler:

Cape May Warbler:

Black and White Warbler:

Chestnut-sided Warbler:

Prothonotary Warbler:

Tennessee Warbler:

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:

Magnolia Warbler:

Nashville Warbler:

Bay-breasted Warbler:

American Redstart:

Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Northern Parula:

Palm Warbler:

Canada Warbler:

and no, not a warbler but a House Wren:

 

and a couple of non-warbler highlights…an Eastern Whip-poor-will (somewhat soggy from a passing shower) that perched all day on a stump only 2 feet off the boardwalk:

and finally the curious-looking American Woodcock which patrolled the forest floor:

enjoying a juicy earthworm!:

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