I've been hearing a lot about the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area recently, and especially about its reputation as an amazing hotspot for migrating birds in May. This preserve is on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and as the high concentrations of birds pass through the area in the spring, so come the birders! There was a huge birding festival at Magee Marsh all last week. Since I'm not a big crowds person, I waited until this past Tuesday morning to go check this place out. And yes, it was pretty great; a bit crowded, but still fun! Long boardwalks wind through marshy forests with lots of low bushes that help bring birds down to eye level. It was cold, cloudy, and windy when I visited, and there weren't insane amounts of birds (it wasn't one of those heavy-bird days at Magee Marsh that I've read about, when birds are practically dripping from the trees). But there were many, many cool creatures to see!
One of the most interesting parts of the visit for me was getting to walk around in an area entirely populated with birders: all these people with their soft voices and reserved movements, pointing their lenses at spots of interest in waves. I walked by one clump of people who were all staring at the base of a tree and passing around the word "Gray-cheeked Thrush," and yes, there it was (a bird I'd never seen before and would've had trouble identifying on my own). A few yards further along the boardwalk, another group was muttering "American Woodcock" and cooing happily whenever a new person managed to see the well-camouflaged bird; it was all super adorable, both the people and the bird:
An adult Bald Eagle perched in a nearby tree got a few points and exclamations, but it was much less of a celebrity than the woodcock:
So yeah, there are definitely some benefits to being around groups of other people looking for birds; I almost certainly wouldn't have noticed this slowly-moving woodcock on my own (it was trying really hard to stay hidden)! Most of the time, though, I did what I prefer to do, which is just wander around quietly on my own and see what creatures I can see.
Gray Catbirds were all over the place in these woods. This catbird was singing directly overhead near the boardwalk's entrance, and I got a clear view of the rusty feathers under its tail:
Gray Catbirds are quite handsome birds, and I'm glad they've returned for the summer:
This Eastern Kingbird was hunting for flying bugs at the edge of a small pond; I'd never noticed how beautiful these birds' wing feathers are, with those white outlines, although this individual's normally white-tipped tail was quite bedraggled:
Is it just me, or are those feet really small?
I love this bird's wide flycatcher beak:
Another Eastern Kingbird was hanging around on the beach. I think flycatchers look really cool:
Hordes of iridescent Tree Swallows were swooping through the air all along the beach, and this one paused to pick at something in the sand:
A flying Great Blue Heron strangely touched the water for a moment on the open lake, as if it thought about landing and then changed its mind; I love this dangling/dancing pose:
A male Baltimore Oriole lit up the overcast woods:
And I was surprised at how bright this American Robin looked; it's no oriole, but it's not too far off:
With so many leaves on the trees now, the smaller songbirds were pretty difficult to see! This Red-eyed Vireo only showed itself briefly:
And this is the best picture I got of a male Blackburnian Warbler who was working his way quickly through the trees:
Male Blackpoll Warblers showed up a few times, hunting for bugs in low branches:
It looks like this guy found something:
I love this warbler's stripey back:
Yellow Warblers were all over the place, males with their fancy striped chests:
And plainer (but still very bright) females:
This female was being chased by a couple of males, but she still managed to do some foraging:
Yellow warblers can look so cute from some angles:
My visit to Magee Marsh didn't yield the most birds I've ever seen, or the most amazing/impressive diversity, but it was still a great trip with lots of awesome creatures! I'm very glad I got to visit this place while I'm still living in the area.
I first stumbled across American Woodcocks (or, if you prefer, "Timberdoodles") a couple of summers ago in the meadows of Naugatuck State Forest. Since then, I've been hoping to someday get to meet these birds again, and especially to see and hear their funky dusk-time mating displays. Well, spring is coming now, and lots of male birds are getting into courtship mode around here, so late this evening, I convinced Paul to head out with me to the middle of Naugatuck State Forest to see if any American Woodcocks were out and about. And lo, there was at least one male out in the woods, calling his little heart out with his strange, buzzing, kazoo-like call (which birders describe as "peenting"). Sing it, little Timberdoodle! (You'll need to turn the volume way up to hear him in this video. And don't mind the airplane going by overhead.)
Unfortunately, we had to leave before it got too dark, so I missed the later stages of this bird's mating display, in which the male launches up into the air and flies around in circles while making whistling sounds with his feathers. Really, though, I'm just proud of myself for accurately guessing where and when these birds would show up, and getting to confirm that the woodcocks are indeed back in the area this year. :)
As a bonus, the sky over the meadows looked really pretty just before sunset:
Tonight's adventure was a brief one, but it was definitely worth it!
This morning I ventured into a new part of the Naugatuck State Forest. Here, there were wide expanses of fields, bursting with wildflowers and dotted with small shrubs (perfect for birds to perch on and hide in), and surrounded by the deep forest. It was a very different sort of place from the ponds and woods I usually visit, and I have to say, aside from the couple dozen ticks I brushed off of my pant legs over the course of the walk, it was a pretty fantastic experience.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived were all the colors.
Everywhere I looked, there was yellow Black-eyed Susan, white yarrow and fleabane, and scattered brilliant orange Butterfly Weed, a member of the milkweed family (which the butterflies seem to love).
I love Black-eyed Susans. Pretty, pretty.
So yes, I saw tons of flowers, and more on that later. But right now, I have to take a quick turn to talk about birds, because I saw some things here that I've never seen before.
Namely, American Woodcocks. These birds are soooo cool, and even though I knew they lived in this area, and that this field/forest combo was the perfect habitat for them, I never actually expected to see any. Yet as I was walking along the forest edge, I happened to look down and see a dumpy figure nestled in the dead leaves just a few feet from the path:
Can you see the bird in the middle there? That's some pretty amazing camouflage -- like I said, I never expected to see one of these guys. And it wasn't until I was going through my pictures that I realized that there are actually two woodcocks here! Hello out-of-focus bird in the bottom left corner!
I would've loved to maneuver around and get a better picture (silly tree branches), but after only a couple camera clicks, the woodcocks sprang up and flew (noisily!) off into another part of the wood. I did get a picture of a fluffed-up woodcock tail as they were on their way out, though!
Seriously, though, these birds are awesome. Do a Google image search so you can better see the bizarre shape of their beaks and heads. Apparently their long beak is just perfect for hunting underground worms, and it even has a flexible tip that the bird can control. Crazy!
So that was my favorite part of the trip, but I had plenty of other fun bird encounters as well. There were Eastern Towhees everywhere, the males singing from the tops of small trees ("drink your tee-ee-ea"). One dashing fellow even set up shop fairly close to where I was standing:
I spent a little while playing hide-and-seek with a very bold male Common Yellowthroat (a type of warbler) in the understory of some bushes right next to the path. He was so close, but he insisted on hopping behind branches and leaves -- thank goodness for my camera's manual focus option!
Peek-a-boo!
A plainer female yellowthroat was hanging around, too -- possibly his mate -- but she wasn't really interested in a close-up photo shoot:
OK, I can go back to the wildflowers now. Since this was such a different habitat from what I'm used to, there were plenty of flowers here that I'd never seen before. There was pretty Spreading Dogbane:
Fringed Loosestrife (I'm quickly deciding that I'm a loosestrife fan; these flowers are just so appealing to me):
Narrow-leaved Mountain-mint:
Showy Tick-trefoil (does it have to have "tick" in its name?):
And Seedbox:
And where there are flowers, there are insects. I love the colors on this inchworm caterpillar (some sort of moth species, possibly of the genus Eupithecia), so perfectly matched to the yarrow flower it's made its home:
And I don't usually like to be any closer to wasps than I have to be, but that's what zoom lenses are for! This impressively big creature is a Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus):
Call me crazy, but I actually think she's kind of cute (and no, I don't know for sure that this is a female):
The next time I feel up to braving the ticks, I will definitely be back here again. It was quite the adventure!
