Yesterday, with the help of a friend, I was able to take part in The Biggest Week in American Birding, one of the largest festivals in the United States, located primarily at Magee Marsh in Lucas County, Ohio. We left early in the morning, around 7 A.M., to embark on the 2.5 hour drive up to Lake Erie. The weather was overcast with scattered rain showers, so fingers were crossed that everything would work out and we would get some great shots of many new birds. While in the car, I stated that today would be a guaranteed success if I could add just 20 new species to my life list, and how I hoped to run in to Noah Strycker, who set the record for most birds seen in a calendar year in 2015 with 6,042, breaking the previous record of approximately 4,300.
When we arrived at Magee Marsh, we were lucky enough to immediately run into a group of people who had just spotted a couple thrushes, before moving down to another group that had spotted some Scarlet Tanagers, Vireos, and even a Bald Eagle. While walking towards the start of the boardwalk, it was shared with us that a nesting American Woodcock was hiding within the roped off area within the parking lot. As we were looking for the highly camouflaged bird, Noah Strycker himself appeared next to me and asked if we could see it! I was at a loss for words for a couple minutes, but soon was able to compose myself and both introduce myself to him and then talk for about 30 minutes with him! It was an amazing experience. As we walked with him and his group towards the entrance of the boardwalk, the warblers started to appear, along with some falling rain.
We soon broke off from his group and set off down the boardwalk at our own pace, stopping left and right to take pictures of the dozens of birds around us, flirting so close to the camera that at times mine was unable to focus on them. Small showers occurred every once and a while, but the sun also managed to break through the clouds at times, lighting up plenty of the birds. At one point, the boardwalk was so crowded that no one could pass, because and Eastern Whip-Poor-Will was in clear view, only feet from the trail! We spent the next 3 hours walking the boardwalk, spotting birds and taking pictures all over the place. I could go on forever about all the amazing opportunities we had, especially with the very photogenic Black-Throated Green Warblers!
After we finished the boardwalk, we got some great shots of the nesting Bald Eagles that were right by the parking lot. We then quickly checked out the beach, before driving right next door to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, where we drove the Auto Tour of the park. It was very windy, but I still managed to add a couple new species, including Trumpeter Swans and Caspian Terns, to my list. At one point, 5 Bald Eagles appeared overhead and perched right next to our car! Sadly, one car wasn’t paying attention and drove right next to them and scared them off before I was able to snap a picture.
Usually I would say what my favorite sitings of the day were, but in this case, the whole day itself was amazing and no singular spot stood out more than being able to walk the boardwalk and be surrounded by hundreds of other birders. Hopefully next year I can spend consecutive days at the festival, with more friends joining us. Overall we saw 75 species in a single day, not bad for only checking 2 locations!
As usual, check out some of my photos on Flickr, and if you want to see the full checklists, you can find them here, here, here, here, here, and finally, here.
Happy Birding!