Last weekend (May 16-17) was another fun time in the Magee Marsh / Crane
Creek / Ottawa Refuge area of n.w. Ohio. Probably more than 2,000 birders
were in the general area (including about 80 OOS stalwarts who came to
sample the delights of Magee and Oak Openings), but there were more than
enough birds to go around. Saturday was outstanding for migrants. It had the
classic setup: a strong airflow out of the south Friday night, storms first
thing Saturday morning to settle the birds down. Later on Saturday the wind
shifted around to the north, and as expected, there were somewhat fewer
birds on Sunday. Not many new birds had come in overnight, but only a small
percentage of the previous day's birds had left, so numbers and variety were
only slightly reduced from Saturday.
The pattern (more birds on Saturday than on Sunday) was noted by all the
birders I talked to who have been covering the area regularly, and strongly
backed up by the results from the BSBO banding station just east of Magee
(where Saturday was the biggest day of the year so far). However, I talked
to some birders from out of town who had the opposite impression -- that
there were more birds Sunday than Saturday -- and it took me a while to
figure out why.
I think a false impression was gained by birders who arrived at Magee Marsh
Wildlife Area on Saturday and immediately headed straight onto the
boardwalk. Saturday morning the wind was strong out of the southwest. Under
such conditions, birds often concentrate along the north edge of the woodlot
at Magee (south edge of the parking lot), and that was the case on Saturday.
The birders and photographers massed along the north edge of the woods were
reveling in point-blank views of warblers, thrushes, vireos, flycatchers,
etc., while the birders doggedly working the boardwalk were seeing numbers
of birds that were fairly good, but not great.
It's easier to understand this if you look at a map that shows the
configuration of the Magee woods and boardwalk. (For a detailed map of the
boardwalk, go to the birding pages of Black Swamp Bird Observatory --
http://www.bsbo.org/Birding/ -- and follow the links for "birding hotspots:
maps and directions.") More than two-thirds of the total length of the
boardwalk is very close to the south or southwest edge of the woodlot, so it's
fairly exposed when there are strong southwest winds.
Warblers and many other migrants feed heavily on midges during their
stopovers here. Midges (family Chironomidae) are small insects, resembling
mosquitoes but utterly harmless. They are abundant in the Lake Erie marshes
in spring but they are very weak flyers, so if there is any significant
wind, they will be concentrated on the downwind side of some kind of
shelter. And the birds will be concentrated there as well.
This past weekend, on Saturday the midges (and the birds, and the happiest
birders) were concentrated along the northern edge of the woods. On Sunday,
with the wind more northerly, the midges and migrants were dispersed through
the woods, so there were many more birds in the immediate area of the
boardwalk itself, and fewer out on the north edge.
At any rate, a strategy tip for birding Magee: if the wind is strong, look
for birds in sheltered areas, downwind from cover or inside the woods away
from the wind.
And if you're visiting the area, be sure to check for updates and
information on the BSBO birding pages: http://www.bsbo.org/Birding/
Good Birding, and hope to see you out there
Kenn Kaufman
Oak Harbor, Ohio
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