Day One
I flew into Detroit; from Maryland it was just slightly over an hour flight. After picking up the rental car I headed to Toledo, Ohio for an early check-in and drop off my luggage at the hotel. Time to get birding - Magee Marsh Wildlife Area was just 17 miles from the hotel, I arrived just after 3:00PM. The weather was Clear, 80F NE winds 7mph, gusts 10mph. This is my first trip here so I didn’t know what to expect. I stopped at the Sportsmen’s Migratory Bird Center/Friends of Magee Marsh Bookstore first and picked up birding maps, then went to the east boardwalk entrance. I was overwhelmed with all the birds, singing, flying, moving through the trees. I struggled to keep up. There were a lot of birders but they were mostly spread out, except when there was a bird of interest, then many collected in that area. I didn’t find this to be a deterrent though, it was great seeing the enthusiasm of so many people. I read they were expecting between 60,000 - 80,000 visitors. Luckily they weren’t all here at this spot at this time though - now that would have been a deterrent. - smile
There were birders from everywhere, both young and old and in between. I spent the next 4.5 hours birding the boardwalk.
A very long day, being a travel day. I finally headed back to the hotel at 7:30PM. Total bird species for the afternoon 30, including 11 warblers. No life birds today.
