Day Four
My day started at 8:00AM with a guided bird walk at Howard Marsh Metropark. Good start - we hardly left the parking lot when we saw a Horned Lark and American White Pelicans.
I can’t resist taking pictures of swallows. These are barn swallows. I especially like to get pictures of them preening, I like to call it Swallow Art.
As we were crossing a small bridge we noticed two of the swallows were in a fight. We weren’t sure if one was going to drown the other - don’t worry, he didn’t.
A huge attraction was the yellow-headed blackbirds. I saw one of these in Maryland as a rare bird in March of this year, otherwise it would have been a life bird for me.
When we finished the walk I stayed around to get better pictures of the bird. I spoke to a lady who was there specifically to see a yellow-headed blackbird. When she arrived there wasn’t one nearby - I told her to stick around and wait for one to return - it did and she was very excited to see it (I know the feeling). I actually saw seven of them during my time at the marsh. There was a male and female close to the parking lot, obviously a pair - I caught them copulating in a nearby tree. Looks like there will soon be more yellow-headed blackbirds around the marsh.
I birded at Howard Marsh for about 4 hours and saw 38 species, mostly shore birds. I then headed back over to Magee Marsh. This time I decided to go to the west entrance of the boardwalk.
It was getting warm, the bald eagle watching over the nest was feeling the heat.
Bay-breasted Warbler, female
There was an eastern screech owl nest right off of the boardwalk.
There was a female prothonotary warbler building a nest in the boardwalk railing post.
Also busy building nests were yellow warblers, I found four nest:
More prothonotary warblers, one landed at my feet.
After birding at Magee Marsh for 4.5 hours I decided to call it a day at 7:30PM, the skies were looking a bit threatening. I saw 29 species, including 10 types of warblers.
