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.  

Update!!!!

After I had posted my May Day Blog...later that day, I went out on the porch and there was this bird in the Dogwood Tree.  He was just sitting there and after the shock, I recovered. I ran in and grabbed my camera, shaking now, and got these few pictures of the beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

He was so striking.  I couldn't believe I was so close to him.  Was very exciting...then he started moving around the tree and I am shaking and trying to capture as many pictures as I can!!!!!

I think he was going to come down to the feeders.....

But a Starling flew in and he flew away and didn't return.  But he had been there and that was enough for me...
      So..last night another really bad storm and this morning I ran out to see if anything different had arrived and this cute Chipping Sparrow was at the feeder just stuffing himself with the seeds.

He is so cute!!!!!

The Titmouse was looking at him...like Who is the new Guy????  You can see how tiny he is compared to the Titmouse.  This is the first time I have had a Chipping Sparrow in my yard.

Sitting checking out the area before he heads to his destination.
So there has been some unexpected excitement at the bird feeders.
Also saw my first Hummingbird of the year yesterday also....

May Day!!!

Happy May Day! The rain ended last night and beautiful morning today.  I went out on my porch to see who was visiting the bird feeders.  Didn't have to wait for long. The friendly White-breasted Nuthatch arrived.

He isn't a bit afraid of me and loves the nuts. I enjoy the way he clings to the tree and hops over to the feeder.  I could hear the Titmouse.  But didn't know if they would arrive or not.  They are quick and usually I can't get a very good picture. Today they must have wanted those nuts really bad.

He had his eye on me.  But he really wanted some nuts.






He got his nuts, but he didn't take his eye off me...

I was thrilled with the pictures I got and waited quietly for the next bird.  Well in flew the Downy Woodpecker.

He loves the suet in this feeder.  He doesn't have to fight off the Starlings and Grackles from this feeder. So he takes his time.

Then the cute Chickadee arrives...chirping and hopping around, grabbing a nut and banging it on a tree branch.  They are such fun to watch.

Seems like the nuts are the favorite this morning.

I have this Robin that has been in the yard for a while now.  I have seen him on the bird feeder getting seeds.  I told my husband, he must be a vegetarian Robin....LOL... well this morning guess who visited the nut feed!?

I was shocked to see him land on the feeder and get some nuts.  I thought they only ate bird seed only when there weren't any worms or bugs around.  This was a first for me. He even chased away the Starlings when they flew in.
The House Finch didn't like me sitting on the porch.  They flew in chattering and few away.  I was able to get a quick picture of him on the wire.

They are so pretty.  I also had a couple of Song Sparrows too.  But they were too quick to leave when they saw me.











I hadn't had any Goldfinch and my sister has them flying around everywhere.  So I decided to move their feeder further away from the rest of the feeders....It worked!!!!!  I had a couple visit the feed today and was so thrilled to see the beautiful yellow!!!

The male is in full color.










I love how they are both holding on to the same post in this picture.

The female Cardinal was in the yard.  Cardinals rather visit the feeder after everyone is gone.

The Blue Jay loves the peanuts I put out for him. He will swoop in and grab one and swoop out!!!!

Sorry I didn't get a better picture.  Hop I will before the nuts run out!












While I was taking the pictures of the visitor, I had company on the porch with me.......

Miss Kitty, my mother's cat that we adopted.  She was enjoying watching the coming and going.  I then decided to walk around the yard and see what was blooming....

I have this giant Hollyhock growing...looks like it is going to be blooming soon.  The leaves are huge.
I have never had one this big before and she came up on her own.

My white Iris is blooming and here are some of the other things that are blooming now.

Yellow pond Iris......

Columbine of several different varieties are blooming.


The purple Money plant is still blooming but starting the seed pods.










My Bleeding Heart is still in bloom, too.

So I worked my way back to the front of the yard to take a look at the small pond...

I heard this barking noise and looked around and saw Miss Kitty....

And when I looked up into the tree...there was the Squirrel very upset...because he had come over to rob the bird feeders and Miss Kitty was standing guard.

When I got back on the porch...these carpenter bees were busy working away and I got Cecil who went and filled up their holes and made them very unhappy!!!!!

I just hope they don't start a new hole.





I hope everyone has a great May Day and my next blog (I hope) will be filled with pictures of warblers!!! Planning on going to do some birding at the Biggest Week at Magee's Marsh...
Till next time! Happy May Day!!!! ;)