Magee Marsh, Northern Ohio, May 15-19, 2017

I made my fifth spring pilgrimage to Magee Marsh, in search of migrant songbirds in close quarters. For those who have not visited, Magee Marsh offers a mile-long boardwalk through a small patch of shoreline woods just south of Lake Erie, which might be the most heavily-birded single site on earth.

This patch of woods is a migrant trap, and in mid- and late May, attracts numbers of wood warblers, vireos, flycatchers, and other landbirds that decide to spend some time in this woodland patch rather than making the daunting flight across the great lake. Just to the north, on the Ontario side of the lake, is Point Pelee, which attracts those birds that decide to cross the lake at the very end of a night’s worth of flying. Point Pelee is another one of the great spring birding sites in the Northeast.

Magee Marsh is situated near Oak Harbor and Port Clinton, just east of Toledo and just west of Cleveland. It is a wonderful birding region because of the presence of a variety of protected areas: Magee Marsh, Ontario National Wildlife Refuge, Metzger Marsh, Oak Openings, Toussaint Wildlife Area, and more. In the late spring, the area attracts many migrant birds—shorebirds, waterfowl, plus the various landbirds.

This year, I tent-camped at the large campground at Maumee Bay State Park. This sizeable park has good birding as well, and also features a lodge where birders can stay. The state park is about 20 minutes’ west of Magee Marsh, just on the outskirts of Toledo. I had a bicycle with me, and the miles of flat bike paths and open park roads make for great bicycle-birding with this park.

Black Swamp Bird Observatory, which is based at Magee Marsh, is operated by Kimberly Kaufman and Kenn Kaufman. During their annual birding festival, entitled “the Biggest Week in American Birding” thousands of birders from around the country flock to Magee. At that time, the boardwalk gets very crowded. The fun side of the crowds is that one always meets birding friends as well as makes new friends. This annual birding festival is hosted at the Lodge at Maumee Bay State Park. I arrived in the area just after the close of this year’s festival.

For those who prefer to bird in solitude, the Magee boardwalk venue is probably not the place for them (although there are plenty of productive nooks and crannies in the general vicinity to bird in peace). The benefit of birding on a crowded boardwalk is that there are a multitude of sharp eyes and keen ears picking out warblers and their songs. It is just a matter of asking what is being seen or heard. If there is a Mourning Warbler on the boardwalk, the news gets out quickly, and dozens and dozens of birders have the pleasure of watching that bird foraging in a thicket at close range. The boardwalk is all about proximity—extreme proximity. It is common to have to back up in order to get the bird into focus with one’s binoculars or camera.

A word of warning for those wanting to plan a trip to Magee Marsh. The boardwalk is only productive when the migrant birds are moving through in numbers. That is weather-dependent. It is best if southwest winds are blowing lightly but steadily, carrying birds from the deep south up to Lake Erie on their way to their breeding forests in Ontario.

In May, it is not uncommon for strong northwest winds to blow south across the Lake. During these times, the birds are few, and the birders are grumpy and bored. So, for those who have the flexibility, it is best to block out the period from 10-20 May on the calendar, and plan on locking in 3-4 mornings when the weather forecast is firmly predicting southwest winds. This can only be done a few days in advance, a problem for those who need to book plan tickets and take time off from work.

Kenn Kaufman’s birding blog at: http://cranecreekbirding.blogspot.com/ provides analysis of the weather and lets the reader know prospects for migrant arrivals. On a good day, it is not unusual to see Kenn and Kimberly leading birdwalks in and around Magee—they are the king and queen of Crane Creek birding.

This year, May was dominated by a long period with northerly winds. This pattern finally broke with the arrival of southerly winds from 16-18 May. The only problem was that the winds were way too strong. Winds exceeding 20 MPH blew for most of Wednesday and Thursday. The birds were present, but seeing and hearing them was made difficult by the noise and distraction caused by the strong winds in the tall canopy of the woodland strip.

The one good aspect of the strong winds was that they forced the foraging birds into the low shrubbery, where they could be watched below eye level. That’s not such a bad consequence.

During my stay, the diversity of wood warblers was not terribly high, probably because it was so late in the season (many of the early migrants had managed to pass through in spite of the poor weather conditions). I recorded 24 species of warblers in four mornings, getting 23 of those on my very first morning on the boardwalk.

The only additional species I added after day one was an obliging Connecticut Warbler that sang for more than 20 minutes and that walked about on the ground in a patch of thicket within 10-20 feet of the boardwalk. It was seen by virtually every observer with some patience. Mourning Warblers were present in numbers each day, some of them singing. Bay-breasted Warblers were common, but Cape May less so.

The most common warbler species during my visit (in order of abundance) were: Yellow (a local breeder), American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut-sided, and Prothonotary (another breeder).  

 Other interesting birds included several flycatcher species singing and visible: Olive-sided, Yellow-bellied, Alder, Least, Willow; Lincoln’s Sparrow; both cuckoos; and Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes. Woodcock were also a daily occurrence, resting and foraging right adjacent to the boardwalk. A pair of Sandhill Cranes hung out in the marshland and bugled each morning to everyone’s delight. It is worth noting that there is a fairly large resident population of Trumpeter Swans in the vicinity. These have been re-introduced through much of the Great Lakes region over the last decade or so.

Just to give a sense of the warbler phenomenon, here are my 4-day totals for some of the more common species: Yellow 165, American Redstart 107, Magnolia 77, Chestnut-sided 70, Common Yellowthroat 32, Prothonotary 26, Bay-breasted 23, Northern Parula 23, Black-throated Green 22, Black-throated Blue 19, and Canada 17.

Happy birding!