Where the Warblers are.....Final Chapter!

When we arrived at the boardwalk it didn't take long for us to start seeing the Warblers!  They were everywhere.  I didn't know which way to point my camera.  Sometimes I just watched and forgot to take a picture.  The Warblers are so tiny and colorful.  The first one we saw that first day was the American Redstart.

They spend winter in the southern Mexico and the Caribbean to northeastern South America, and breed in the US and Canada.

The Black and White is one of my favorites. They also spend winter in southern Mexico to Northern South America.

The Blackpoll Warbler can be mistaken for the Black and White.  The Blackpoll has a black cap which helps with the ID.

Like most warblers he spends his winter in the Northwestern part of South America and come north to breed.

The Blackburnian Warbler spends his winter in Northwestern part of South America and breeds in the north spruce woods of Canada and the northeastern United States. 

When you see him with the sun shining on that orange throat...it is spectacular!

The Black-throated Green Warbler...

He winters in the Caribbean area and central America before coming north to breed.

The Cape May Warbler, he got his name from being discovered in 1811 in Cape May, New Jersey.

Chestnut-sided Warbler, winters in Central American and breeds in Canada and Northern US.

Golden-winged Warbler...This was the first time we saw this one (our thrid year to the warbler migration)  He was a hard one to get a picture of....constantly moving around.

Once you spot him, that yellow cap and wing patches just stand out!

The Magnolia Warbler 

He was my favorite the first year we saw him.  That yellow and black, I thought there couldn't be a prettier warbler. 

The Nashville Warbler, was discovered during migration near Nashville, Tenn. in 1811

Northern Parula is one of the smallest warblers. (about 4 1/2 inches)  The name Parula means little titmouse or chickadee.

The Palm Warbler has the habit of pumping his tail, so he seems to be in constant motion.

He winters in the southeastern part of the US and breeds in Canada, going almost up to Alaska.

The Prothonotary Warbler 

He got his name  "Prothonotary" which refers to special  religious  scribes who wore yellow hoods.

He is such a fun bird to watch, hopping around.  He is the only cavity-nesting  warbler and competes with the House Wren for nest sites.

 

The Tennessee Warbler spends much of his time in coffee plantations in South American where he winters and breeds in Canada. Of course he got his name because he was discovered during migration in Tennessee.  This was a first sighting of him for us this year.

Wilson's Warbler winters in southern Mexico and Central America and breeds in Canada and Alaska and  eastern Aleutians. Named for naturalist Alexander Wilson, who first described him.

Another first for us.

The Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler is often the first warbler to be seen in the spring. He is very common in the Great Lakes region and the only warbler that overwinters in the Great Lakes area. His yellow patches seem to be important in mating.

The Yellow Warbler range from wintering in South America to breeding over most of the US and Canada and Alaska.  He is such a cheerful little fellow.

 This one has a band on his leg...

These are the warblers we saw on our visit but that wasn't the only things we saw.....

In the parking lot there was a Woodcock nest....it was roped off and I will let you see  by the pictures how hard it was to find her.

Look at the black spots on the right of middle....






This one is better...you can see her beak and eye....

Also we saw a Whip-poor-Will

 

He just looked like a bump on the log he was sitting on.

Up in the trees we found the Black-crowned Night Heron...

Look closely....We wouldn't have found him if we didn't have binoculars....

We also enjoyed the Egrets and Trumpeter Swans at Metzger Marsh.

The Great Egret....

They were fishing and chasing the one that got a fish...very beautiful.

Trumpeter Swans are the largest of the Swans (Tundra and Mute)

Then the fly over by the Sandhill Cranes!  

 

The Double-crested Cormorants were flying around too.  

This juvenile was off on his own...

The baby Great Horned Owl peeking down at us, was a thrill.(I just had to show him again)

Gulls and Common Terns.

The Scarlett Tanager 

 

He put on a show for all the camera guys...He would fly to a branch and sit and watch them run over to get a picture and then...off to another one...this went on for about 20 minutes...He was enjoying himself and we got some great pictures!  

We also saw Baltimore Orioles, Robins, Cardinals, Wrens, Sparrows, White-crowned and White Breasted, Common Grackles, Swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Herons.  It was amazing.  I am so amazed that these tiny birds fly the distance they fly just to breed and in a couple of months head back south.  I am still learning and hope that if anyone see that I have identified a bird wrong to please let me know....I have saved the best for last....the American Birder!

 

Shhhh, she is totally involved in finding this little warbler that is out there in that tangled wooded area!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my adventure....not sure what will follow...but I hope it will be exciting!

Till our next visit..... 

Where the Warblers are....Chapter Three

The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge opened up 7 mile drive through the wildlife refuge that isn't open most of the time.  It was open for the Biggest Birding Week in May.  We have taken it before and it is really great.  You never know what you will see.  You beginning the drive from the Visitors' Center.

It is a narrow road but you drive slowly so you don't miss anything and everyone behind you are there for the same reason.  This year we notice this antenna things and figured they must be for weather or other communication.

The first thing we saw was a Great Egret that was flying away from where we were passing.

The scenery is beautiful and something is always flying around.

We saw a lot of Eagles too...

This year there were a lot of Trumpeter Swans.

 Their necks are stained orange from  iron rich water and mud where they forage. The have a wing span of 80 inches (7 feet) They are the largest water fowl in North America.

You have to have binoculars because you need to scan the trees in the distance.

Here we found 2 Eagles in a tree.

Here is another Eagle and we saw several flying around.  It is so amazing to see an Eagle soar!

 One of the many areas where little birds are everywhere!  I finally got a picture of this Yellow Warbler only because he looks like he was interested in what we were doing.

In this one area we saw this little guy just singing his heart out...He was alone so we thought he was calling to his friends.

I believe he is a Horned Grebe.

This one is a Pied-billed Grebe....

The scenery is beautiful.  Of course I have only seen it in the spring.

The other seasons have to be just as beautiful.

And you never know what will be around the next bend in the road.



This Egret was just as surprised as we were.

On this tree there were 3 Double-crested Cormorants.

This area looked like there had been a fire, either natural or man made. We didn't know but gave a eerie look to it.

We pasted by these Swallows and while we watched them we noticed that it was several kinds.
Here are Tree Swallows and Purple Martins.

The brown one is Northern Rough-winged Swallow and the one top left could be a Barn Swallow but not a good enough picture to positively ID him.

Tree Swallows and Purple Martins

 Here they were just sitting on this long branch. These look like Purple Martins and Tree Swallows.

Just before the end of the 7 mile drive we spotted this Eastern Kingbird. 

It was a wonderful drive and we had come prepared this year....we had stopped and got sandwiches that we ate on our drive.  This was our third time to take the drive and every time has been different.
Now we are nearly to the end of the week-end and the fourth and final chapter will be our finding of the WARBLER!!!!   So I hope you will stay with me for one more chapter.