The Biggest Week!!

Spent the week-end at "The Biggest Week" in American Birding at Magee's Marsh.
It was amazing. Saw about 20 different Warblers and lots of duck, Heron, Great Egrets. Here are a few of the good pictures I took. Sometimes the excitement of the sighting got the better of me and the pictures were a little blurry.....

This is the beginning of the boardwalk that takes you through the woods of beautiful birds!

Right now it is empty except for me and my sister.....But later there will be hundreds of people which makes it nice because they all help each other find the bird and identify it.  I never thought I would ever enjoy being a part of the crowd...

It is amazing seeing these little Warblers flying around and thinking about the distance they have flown and after this rest they will take off across Lake Erie and further north.
Here are a few of the ones that I was able to get pictures of.

Bay-breasted Warbler

Black and White

Blackburnian Warbler


That orange throat when the sun hit him was amazing!

Black-throated Blue

Black-throated Green

Nashville Warbler

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 Can you see this one in the tree?  It is the Yellow Warbler.  He is so beautiful.  One would think he easy to spot but it can be hard.













                                        Yellow Warbler

The Warblers are the big draw but there are many more birds......

Baltimore Oriole was everywhere.  I got to see the female for the first time. Of course she isn't as bright as the male.

The Barn Swallow. 

Tree Swallow

The White-crowned Sparrow.
Those white stripes really show up.
The little guy to the right here looks like he had an attitude!!!!














                                    
                            

White-throated Sparrow

Owls are hard to spot.  Someone found this Eastern Screech-Owl high up in this tree.  Do you see him?  It was cold that morning and he is puffed out but look right in the middle behind the leaves and there he is!!!!
There was a Great Horned Owl nest which was hard to see.

Here we are trying to get a view of the nest for the Owls.....

This is the nest.  It was way in the back and at first I saw nothing. Then I saw these little fuzzy heads looking out.

There were two babies and since I have been home, someone got wonderful pictures of them coming out of the nest.  They are so cute.


There were frogs and turtles to be seen.

 The American Woodcock is another bird that is very hard to see.  They are on the ground and blend into the surroundings that it is very hard to see.  This one was walking around.  He did this little back and to movement.  I understand it helps him locate his food and then he spears into the ground for it.  His mate was sitting on a nest but I never did get to find it.
There are other marshes along the Lake and we drove over to them.  The Ottawa has a drive through theirs and we saw ducks and over 100 Great Egrets along with Herons and other birds.

Mallards, Herons and Egrets.
We also liked to go to Metzger Marsh just down the road.

Dunlin were at Metzger Marsh and there must have been 100 of them gathered there one day.

 The Great Egrets were so beautiful.  Some were in full feathers and loved to watch them fly.

This is a Snow Egret.  The first time I have seen one.  They have a black bill.

Heron flying over. We also saw Eagles and Hawks flying too.

We spotted these two Eagles along the road.  They were breathtaking.  So close and just watching everything going on.

 Forster's Terns at the beach area at Maumee Bay State Park.

 Herring Gulls, they have pink legs.

Trumpeter Swans

And there is the beach to walk along and one never knows what one will see or find.  It was a wonderful week-end, our second time to go and we are planning on going next May.