Along the Lake Erie shoreline in northwest Ohio, and specifically in the
area of Magee Marsh, Ottawa-Lucas Counties:  The last several days have
featured warm temperatures, and winds with a strong southerly component.  A
lot of migrant birds have been riding that train north into our area, with
large numbers of arrivals each of the last three days. At least 14 species
of warblers were reliably reported from the Magee Marsh boardwalk on April
17 - 18. The most surprising was a very early Am. Redstart; others were all
species expected in the early part of the migration, including multiple
singing N. Parulas, Black-throated Greens, Pines, and Nashvilles, and scores
of Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers. "Overshooting" southern warblers were
represented by Hooded and Prothonotary (although the latter could have been
a local breeder) and a Louisiana Waterthrush, found in the same area as a
Northern Waterthrush near the west end of the boardwalk.  Other migrants
present at Magee on 4/18 included very large numbers of Hermit Thrushes, one
Blue-headed Vireo, two House Wrens, at least 10 Winter Wrens, and at least
20 Rusty Blackbirds.  On 4/17 I saw a male Yellow-headed Blackbird with a
mixed blackbird flock in a corn stubble field on Krause Road west of Ottawa
National Wildlife Refuge.  The auto tour route at Ottawa is scheduled to be
open this Saturday, April 19, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so we'll get a
chance to see if the Yellow-headeds are back on territory there.

The forecast calls for cooler temperatures this weekend and a good chance of
rain, but the southerly wind flow looks likely to continue for a few more
days. There is turnover every day now, so the individuals present will
probably change, but I expect the diversity to continue to be good (for this
early in the season) throughout the weekend in all the migrant traps along
the lakeshore here.

Since there is so much interest (throughout Ohio and beyond) in the
migration through the Crane Creek - Magee area of northwest Ohio, we've put
together some pages of birding information that will be updated regularly
with reports and predictions throughout the spring.  These pages are
accessible through the Black Swamp Bird Observatory website at
http://www.bsbobird.org/birding/

Hope to see you out in the field --

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

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