USA ....13th May

Hello again, sorry about the delay, we've been away to Suffolk on holiday last week, but more of that to come, first though lets crack on with the American trip....

Yesterdays visit to Magee Marsh was our final look at the migration hotspot. Today we are taking in a new type of habitat ( and species) before heading north to follow the migrants up into Michigan.

We arrived at Oak Openings around 8am on a lovely cool, bright sunny morning. As with all sites here, the birding was quite easy, walking on road surfaces next to good bird spots...

Oak Openings Preserve

This area is a large prairie / mature woodland location and as a consequence it holds some birds that are difficult to find elsewhere. We soon found some targets - 6+ Lark Sparrows, 8+ Red headed Woodpecker inc one excavating a nest hole, 5+ Field Sparrows, 1 White breasted Nuthatch and 1 Grasshopper Sparrow were all new additions. Also we saw 3 Yellowthroats, and a large flock mobbing a red phase Screech Owl that tried to shake its attackers by swerving through the tree trunks in the bright sunshine. In pursuit were 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, 4+ Bluebirds, many Blue Jays and an American Crow. A Meadowlark was seen near the Grasshopper Sparrow too.

Tree Swallow

Fox Squirrel, much larger than Greys.

Red headed Woodpecker

White breasted Nuthatch

Time to get the pedal to the metal and we moved north. On route we took in a bizarre mini twitch for a summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper! Now we hadn't taken leave of our senses, Curlew Sandiper is an annual sighting back home, but if this site held the Curlew Sand, what else may be here...in fact it was just a small flooded field but it held 60 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Wilsons Snipe, 1 drab fs male Wilsons Phalarope, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 1 Short billed Dowitcher, 2 Dunlin and 2 Kildeer. Apart from waders we had 2 Buff bellied Pipits, several Purple Martins, 1 Red tailed Hawk and 1 female Northern Harrier.

Angola / Raab Road - Scene of the Curlew Sandpiper...

Onwards and upwards, 200 miles later and we arrived at Hartwick Pines State Park, Grayling, Michigan.

What a change in habitats and even seasons. It was much colder here and the trees still didnt have a leaf on them. It reminded me of the differences between say Minsmere and Loch Garten.

Feeding Station at Harwick Pines State Park. Click on it and you can just see on the feeders stuck on the glass, 2 grosbeak species.

Hartwick Pines State Park

As we didnt get here til 6pm, the centre was closed, so we had a short stroll around. Behind the building was a large feeding station. It was fantastic and for me one of the trip highlights, it was just a shame it was a little bit too dark for the photos. On the feeders were 5+ Evening Grosbeaks, huge illuminous finches that dwarf our hawfinch, 10+ Rose breasted Grosbeak, 1 Pine Siskin ( cant tell if male or female, they all look like our female siskins) 1 Mourning Dove and 2 Red breasted Nuthatches tooted their distinctive toy trumpet call note, a bit like a zebra finch.

Racoon

Porcupine

Evening and Rose breasted Grosbeaks

Evening Grosbeak

Further into the woods were Scarlet Tanager, Bay breasted Warbler, Black throated Green warbler and 2 Chipping Sparrows. American Robins were everywhere. Near the track a pair of Yellow bellied Sapsuckers were nest building and a Brown Creeper crept around the car park.

A few mammals here - 1 huge Porcupine in a tree above our bus, good numbers of Chipmunks, American red Squirrel, Grey Squirrel and Fox Squirrel including some black ones.

A great day out....

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.

Thursday 12th May - Various sites....

There was some heavy rain at first this morning but then things soon brightened up.

We began the day looking for migrants at Maumee Bay State Park. This is quite a large area ( aren't they all) of wet woodland and reeds with a nice boardwalk running through it for ease of access.

As we left the bus, first birds up were a large colony of Purple Martins in a dove cot like structure at the visitor centre. There were loads, easily watched down to point blank range although 2 flushed Meadow Larks weren't so accommodating.

Today will best be remembers for the huge numbers of Blue Jays on the move. We had thousands going over all morning. A nearby ringing station estimated 25,000 before lunch. There were flocks of up to 500 at a time going overhead, looking for all the world like our own Fieldfares in the autumn.

A busy feeding station behind the info centre gave us good views of Brown headed Cowbird, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Rose breasted Grosbeaks along with the ubiquitous Red winged Blackbirds and Grackles.

Along the boardwalk, migrants became more obvious with 1 male Indigo Bunting, 2 American Redstart, 13+ Yellowthroats, 1 Yellow Warbler a nice Black billed Cuckoo, 1 Great crested Flycatcher, Blackburnian, Chestnut sided, Yellow Rumped and Magnolia Warblers all flitting about. Nearby a Bluebird, Downy Woodpecker and Red bellied Woodpecker added to the variety.

Two nest boxes near the path held broods of Eastern Screech Owls, one of the red form and one of the grey. At one box, a young one could be seen so I thought maybe the adult was sitting nearby? No chance of finding that. Then I turned, and right next to us was an adult posing as a snapped log, dozing with one eye open!

Almost back at the visitor centre we found a pair of Tufted Tits, 1 Broad winged Hawk, 1 Sharp shinned Hawk and a Coopers Hawk all soaring overhead, while 10+ Turkey Vultures formed a 'kettle'.

Outside were a nice little colony of 8+ Cliff Swallows under a culvert, 2 Eastern Phoebes were flycatching near the pond while Chipping Sparrow and American Goldfinch sang in the car park.

Stalking a Green Heron in the reeds.

Brown-headed Cowbird, male.

The 'grey form' Eastern Screech Owl. Showing well.

Purple Martins.

After Maumee, we moved down the coast (?) to  Metzger Marsh. Here was a tiny woodlot at the road end car park that holds migrants.

The trip reports dont really give you a clue of numbers of birds around these sites. At first arrival, it seemed quieter here, but give it an hour or two and you get a sizeable list-

2 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern Harrier, 2 Ospreys, 6 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Lesser Scaup, 8+ Cedar Waxwing, 3+ Warbling Vireo, 2+ Red eyed Vireo, 1 Philadelphia Vireo, 1 Blue headed Vireo, 1 Blackburnian, 1 Black throated Green, 2 Black throated Blue, 3 Yellow rumped, 1 Cape May, 1 Bay breasted, 1 Nashville, 1, Black and White, 1 Yellow Warblers, 2 American Redstart, 4 Eastern Kingbird, 1 Great crested Flycatcher, 1 Least Flycatcher, 2 Swainsons Thrush, 1 Veery, 1 Song Sparrow.

All in an area the size of a car park. I like that kind of 'quiet' spot.

Metzger Woodlot. Yep this is all there is to it, a car park and tiny bit of wood.

Facing the opposite direction.

Eastern Kingbird

Song Sparrow.

Right, it was off to Magee...contd....

Day 3 Contd....Ottawa Refuge.

Just a short post to cover that afternoon...

We moved off from the dizzying delights of Magee and headed just down the road to some different habitat - Ottawa Refuge and its shallow wetland pools.

Waders were the main goal and a few were present - 50+ Dunlin, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 10+ Lesser Yellowlegs, 2+ Least Sandpipers, 10+ Semi-palmated Sandpipers, 16+ Great Egret.

Another random little woodlot around the corner on a pool edge was interesting. One of the lads called Common Gallinule ( er Moorhen to you) but I couldn't get the adrenalin flowing enough to leave behind a male American Redstart, 2 Blue Gray Gnatcatchers, an Empidonax Flycatcher that may never be identified, Magnolia Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow rumped Warbler and a pair of Blue Jays. Then someone found a male Wilsons Warbler that took some finding afterwards and a nice Brown Thrasher.

No, I never did add Common Gallinule to my USA list....

Grilling shorebirds at Ottawa.

GBH

Great Egret 

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, best I could do, sorry. We found its nest too and that didn't help.

Palm Warblers, a lovely subtle bird, one of my favourites. Common too...

Wednesday 11th May - Ohio Day 3....

We drove the 40 minutes or so from our hotel in Maumee, towards Magee again, arriving at 8.15am. Before heading out to the masses on the boardwalk, we stopped a few miles away at a farmland site called Stange / Kraus Road to look for some prairie specialities. En route 5 Sandhill Cranes showed well including one almost half the size, a Lesser Sandhill Crane. I had not heard about this type before, but is apparently a subspecies from a different part of the USA?

We pulled into an empty view point car park where a dozen White-crowned Sparrows and 2 Song Sparrows fed around the edge and a pair of Northern Flickers gave away a nearby nest site in a tall rotting tree stump. Killdeers were ever present running around the roads and a nearby wet field held 15+ Dunlin and a Spotted Sandpiper. 2 Double crested Cormorants flew over.

A birder driving past kindly stopped to give us a tip about a singing Henslow's Sparrow just along the road at Grimm Prairie, a large flat dead grassed area. As this was a main target for Bob we headed straight along and soon found our bird. It was a mere dot, singing the worlds most boring bird song ( google it) a long way off. A few hundred yards of stalking soon secured decent identifiable views of this quite rare species. Also new for me here was an Eastern Meadowlark, a female Northern Harrier or Marsh Hawk,  2 Horned Larks and 2 Buff bellied Pipits.

Henslow's Sparrow twitch. Is over there somewhere.

Andy grilling some warbler or other.. 

So it was on to the main course, a morning at Magee Marsh. 9.30am - 11.30am.

Warblers arrived on cue and a wide variety of guises. There were 6+ Magnolia Warblers ( what a bird), 6+ American Redstarts ( mostly black and red firey males), 4 Nashville Warblers, 3 Blackburnian Warblers, 8+ Chestnut sided Warblers, 3+ Northern Parulas, 5+ Bay breasted Warblers, 2 Palm Warblers, good numbers of Yellow Warblers and Yellow rumped Warblers down to arms length, 6+ Cape May Warblers, 1 male Black throated Blue Warbler, 4 Black throated Green Warblers, 3 Black and White Warblers, 1 Prairie Warbler ( a rare species here caused a twitch) and 1+ Orange crowned Warbler.

Above two - Bay breasted Warblers.

Above two - Blackburnian Warbler, a male. A fire in the woods.

Above two -  Cape May Warbler taking midges from cobwebs. Down to 6 feet.

Northern Parula female too close to focus, in danger of being stood on.

Chestnut sided Warbler, a common species here.

American Redstart, never sits still hard to photograph even though quite tame.

Yellow Warbler.

Magnolia Warbler, shade your eyes....

What can you say about that! They are truly amazing birds and a real joy to hunt out. At some American migration spots these are canopy feeders but here many were at eye level. What a treat.

You think that cast looks good for 2 hours at one site, well its not over yet. As a support cast, this looks as impressive as it actually was - 2+ Ruby-crowned Kinglets,  1 male Ruby throated Hummingbird, 2 Blue headed Vireos, 3 Warbling Vireo, several Baltimore Orioles ( common), 6+ White crowned Sparrow, 1 Indigo Bunting, 5 Rose breasted Grosbeaks, 1 Lincoln Sparrow, 2 male Scarlet Tanager, 1 American White Pelican flew overhead, 3 House Wren ( more like a gropper than a wren), 1 Veery, 1 Swainsons Thrush, Andy found a fs male Summer Tanager that almsot landed on Richard as it flew to the ground to snatch an insect, 1 Eastern Bluebird and nearby several Purple Martins at speciall hung gourd nest boxes in a garden.

Phew! This is going to be a long post by the time I get the photos in here, please bear with me.

Summer Tanager, not sure if FS male or reddish female?

Day three to be continued this is just till lunchtime.....

Tuesday 10th May...USA Day 2...

This morning, a six hour time difference ( behind) found me wide awake and keen to get up by 4.30am. Problem being, it was still dark. So, a loiter around the tiny Chesterton hotel balcony drinking coffee, was time well spent. As the birds woke and began singing, some showed on trees in the car park and around the adjacent lake, but not before the second Racoon of the trip climbed down a tree, vanished into the woods, returning 20 mins later. I can only assume he was doing, er, the natural thing...
It was cool, overcast and drizzling, but it faired up by day break.

View from the balcony. The snapped off tree is the one with the racoon, the large green tree had House Finches and the confers had an American Robins nest...

Panning right the marsh and pond could be seen.

New species seen - 1 male Northern Cardinal, 1 Northern Flicker a pair of House Finches showed before we even ventured out doors properly. Then on the lake edge around the back of the hotel were 2 Killdeer, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 1 Pied billed Grebe, an Osprey, 1 male Yellow Warbler, 1 male Yellowthroat, 2 male Baltimore Orioles, 2 Northern Rough winged Swallows, Coopers Hawk, a Northern Waterthrush, 1 Warbling Vireo, 1 Yellow throated Vireo, 2 Black and White Warblers, a Swamp Sparrow, a Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, a Hairy Woodpecker and 6+ Blue Jays.

Northern Cardinal, not only a looker, but a good singer too...

Male Common Yellowthroat, a common bird on this trip. Anywhere with wet ditches, ponds etc.

After breakfast we headed off to our next stop near Toledo, 150 miles away, en route seeing 15 Wild Turkeys inc sev males all puffed out, 1 Red tailed Hawk and 10+ Turkey Vultures.

We headed straight on to our main sought after destination, the one we have read so much about since planning the trip way back in 2014, Magee Marsh and its famous boardwalk. We had three nights booked here to check out the sights and reserves in the area. As this is the annual 'Biggest Week in American Birding' festival the area was very busy indeed with several hundred birders of varying capabilities around. Luckily the places are all big areas, so it is possible to get away from any mobs and do some birding alone.

Magee has to be one of the easiest places to birdwatch. It is all done on either wooden boardwalks or hard surfaces looking into open woodland with a scrub understory for migrant birds arriving.

The team arrive on the Magee boardwalk on a damp cold grey afternoon...

Four hours here produced a great list of birds, particularly those sought after warblers - 15+ Yellow Warblers, 10+ Myrtle Warblers, 2 male Cape May Warblers, sev Black throated Green Warblers, male Chestnut sided Warbler, sev Nashville Warblers, a female Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, a male Blackpoll, American Redstart, 2 Prothonotary Warblers, a male Blackburnian Warbler and 1 Ovenbird. Thats not all, we had many Tree Swallows nesting, Great and Snowy Egrets, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 4 Warbling Vireos, 3 Gray Catbirds, 2 Northern Cardinals, 3 Ruby crowned Kinglets, 1 Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, 5+ Rose breasted Grosbeaks, 3 White throated Sparrows, 1 male Scarlet Tanager, 6+ Baltimore Orioles, 1 House Wren, 1 Veery, 1 Grey Cheeked Thrush, 1 American Woodcock, 1 Eastern Kingbird and 2 fledgling Great Horned Owls...What an afternoon.

Protonotary Warblers are really this yellow.

Ruby crowned Kinglet, without a ruby crown. 

This Veery shared a small patch of wood floor with a Grey cheeked Thrush, pity it wouldnt sit still for a photo too. 

Ovenbird, skulking.