My birding trip to Magee Marsh was 12-17 May, which partially coincided with the Biggest Week in American Birding (festival).

A little about the Magee Marsh Boardwalk - This boardwalk is one of the most famous birding sites in North America, especially during spring migration. It is located at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and is administrated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division. The roughly 1 mile boardwalk was built by the Wildlife Division in 1989. Improvements and renovations which began in 2014 were provided by Friends of Magee Marsh, a nonprofit support group.

Birding Northwest Ohio (“Warbler Capital of the World”)

The Festival…..was headquartered at the Maumee Bay Lodge & Conference Center in Maumee Bay State Park. This turned out to be a great place to bird as well. I did not stay at the lodge and did not attend evening events (maybe next year).

I should mention the festival was hosted by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, an independent nonprofit organization supported by its members - they did a wonderful job.

Skip the following and go to Day One

Other birding spots - In addition to the boardwalk I also birded around the Sportsmen’s Migratory Bird Center, Maumee Bay State Park and Howard Marsh.

Photographing Warblers

If you are a birder who also photographs the birds you see I expect you can relate to the difficulty of photographing warblers. Warblers are very “busy” birds, they move through the branches very quickly in search of bugs and are often up high above in the tree canopy. It is difficult to get an ID, much less a picture. The boardwalk was a wonderful place to get “good looks”, but it also presented other challenges. Some of the tree/bushes were very thick with branches, lighting from dark to bright as they move from one area to another. The pictures below are an example of trying to get a good shot of a bay-breasted warbler:

I see him back there but branches are blocking him.

He moved to another tree, but still can't get a good shot, he's partially in the sun and also shade.

Still moving to another area I try again, but his head is shaded.

I GOT IT!!

I was birding for four full days, one partial day. I took 3,384 pictures (thank goodness for digital). The typical views you get - they just took off, their underside, their backside, mostly hidden behind leaves…. I have a lot of pictures of bare branches - I hit the shutter just as they take off. These pictures are examples of many of the shots.