12th May contd...

I hope all of this 'across the pond' stuff isn't boring you. Please bear with me, I would like all of my posts together in a batch...

So, back to 12th May. After the migrants of the morning, by 2pm we were back at Magee Marsh car park. What a place too. Every day is different at this time of year and today is no exception. The crowds seem bigger than previously and there is a certain 'buzz' to it. The reason - a Twitch. Word has it that the one everyone hopes to see has turned up - a Kirtland's Warbler. One of the rarest of the yank warblers, it only breeds in Michigan and Canada in low Jack Pine forest.

At one stage madness seemed to take over the crowds, as middle aged women, young girls as well as your usual demographic, just strode up to common warblers as if to grab them, peer down through bins even though they were too close to focus, in the hope of success. I've never seen the like.

But would we see it? The trees, leaves, crowds etc all conspired against us but with a lot of frustration and perseverance, we all managed a decent look at the bird, a nice male.

Above three, mobbed from all sides hoping for a rare yank, just like the Scillies in its hey day!

This lad from Pennsylvania has it sussed.

I was very pleased to grab this shot through trees and bodies along the boardwalk. Kirtlands Warbler. Male.

But, being Magee, its not all about the one bird. There were warblers everywhere, plus many other species too -
1 Yellow billed Cuckoo, 1 Yellow throated Warbler, a male Hooded Warbler, 1 male Prothonotary Warbler, 3+ Tennessee Warblers, 2+ Parulas, 4+ Bay breasted, 3+ Blackburnian, 3+ Magnolia, 10+ Yellow, 2+ Black throated Green, 3+ Black throated Blue, 3+ Cape May, 2 American Redstart, 1 Veery, 1 Grey cheeked Thrush, 2 Swainsons Thrush, 3 Rose breasted Grosbeaks, I've stopped counting Baltimore Orioles yesterday, American Woodcock on its nest in the car park, 4 White crowned and 1 White throated Sparrow, 2 nests of Bald Eagle only a couple of hundred yards apart...Phew.

Black throated Green Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Tennessee Warbler female.