Fellow birders,

       Time for the annual BIRDER Report from Magee Marsh Boardwalk and
surrounds.  After reading the White Pelicans subject line, I was sorely
temped to us White People for my subject line, but that would no doubt
offend at least a few birders, so I'll just mention it in the body, and
offend a few less.  Actually, I did see five birders of color this year,
which was actually a much higher percentage than in past years, but only due
to the overall lower total numbers.  My guess is that there were never more
than 1000 birders on the boardwalk Saturday morning,  which is down from
perhaps a total of well over 5000 in previous years.   No major bottlenecks
this year.  The Amish, who don't watch the weather channel that much, may
have made up a third of all present.  And while not immediately evident, I
would guess that the overall birder IQ was down quite a bit this year,
because all the birders with any sense at all stayed home.

     The wind, of course, was the real culprit this year, making for the
worse birding I personally have seen in 25 years or so.  Groups of desperate
birders actually congregated to look at Yellow-rumped warblers early
Saturday morning.  In past years, I have seen up to 25 species and hundreds
if not thousands of individual warblers.  I managed only 17 species on
Friday and Saturday, and saw way less than 100 total warblers on Saturday
morning.  My total species count was under 100 for the first time ever.
 Pathetic!!  To add insult to injury, we learned that the best restaurant in
town, The Garden,  had burned down.  Thanks to Kim K. we learned that it had
reopened at  The Islander Grille.

     And then there was the Auto tour at Ottawa.  About as many birds as you
would see driving through Port Clinton.

     Despite this dismal report, I'm willing to bet that a good time was
still had by most.  Many did get to see a Golden-winged Warbler, and many
had stopped to see the Purple Gallinule at Columbia Reservation.  Hard core
birders don't really need much to keep them happy.  The local guides were
great, and BSBO did all they could to make it a successful weekend.  It
takes a bad year now and then to help us appreciate the great birding years
that are the rule, rather than the exception.

joe in the woods
Somerset, Ohio
Perry County

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