Hi all,

As winds continue from a northerly direction, little turnover has occurred
in NW Ohio over the last week or so. The last notable push over a week ago
and more recently the night of the 24th still brought in a few migrants,
which are holding out until the winds switch back south. The Magee
boardwalk has been quiet lately but still has a few dozen Yellow-rumped
Warblers and smaller numbers of Black-throated Green, Pine, Palm, Nashville
and an Orange-crowned Warbler. Other notable species include a male Summer
Tanager (still present today on its fifth consecutive day), Baltimore
Oriole, Wood Thrush, Blue-headed and Warbling Vireos, Least Bittern
(calling north of the boardwalk on the 28th), all expected species of
swallows, Green Heron and others. An American Woodcock has been really
putting on a show daily near boardwalk marker #11 - at times foraging only
a few feet away. It's interested to observe its behavior as it probes into
the dirt and pause for a couple seconds before pulling its bill back up.
The bench near #24 offers a vantage point to look north at the young Great
Horned Owls popping their head out of the top of a large stump. A gray
morph Eastern Screech-Owl has been seen by many near marker #12, literally
right above the boardwalk. Just look for the whitewash underneath. When
looking up, be sure to keep your mouth shut! For a map of the boardwalk
markers, see here
(http://www.bsbo.org/Birding/pdf/magee_marsh_boardwalk_map_and_text.pdf)

Shorebirds in the area continue to be present. Be sure to check all of the
regular sites: MS7 and MS4 along the Ottawa NWR Auto Tour (open next on May
5th & 6th), Benton-Carroll Road, Ottawa-Lucas Road, Metzger Marsh, and
various other locations. Recent highlights include:
American Golden-Plover - 100+ were on the south side of Kolbe Road between
Lickert-Harder and Benton-Carroll Roads on Apr 21 and 22.
Black-bellied Plover - One individual in full-breeding plumage was present
off Benton-Carroll Road late this afternoon but was gone by the evening.
Semipalmated Plover - Two were off Benton-Carroll Road this
afternoon/evening
Upland Sandpiper - One was observed off State Route 105, just west of
Lickert-Harder Road on the south side of the road on April 24th
Good numbers of Dunlin persist at most locations along with Greater &
Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral, Least, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers,
Wilson's Snipe and Killdeer. There have been 17 species of shorebirds in
the region so far this spring.

Other interesting birds in the region over the past week include: American
White Pelicans, Sandhill Cranes, Black-crowned Night-Herons, three species
of terns, Lapland Longspurs and a second-hand report of a Tricolored Heron
at Metzger.

The weather is still holding up to produce a good influx of migrants by mid
next week as predicted by Kenn Kaufman on his informative migration outlook
(http://cranecreekbirding.blogspot.com/). It looks like the weather
forecast has changed a little since and we might be getting an influx of
birds as early as Tuesday morning depending on the rain Monday night!

For maps of the area visit:
http://www.bsbo.org/Birding/birding_hotspots.htm
For Kenn Kaufman's migration predications visit:
http://www.bsbo.org/Birding/birding_hotspots.htm
For live tweets on what's being seen in the Magee region visit:
https://twitter.com/BiggestWeek

With May just around the corner and the Biggest Week in American Birding
commencing next week, I bet I will be seeing a lot of you up soon! Be sure
to stop by Black Swamp Bird Observatory and let me know what interesting
birds you have seen in the area.

Good birding,


Ethan Kistler
Education and Outreach Specialist
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449
419-898-4070

2011 League of Ohio Sportsmen Conservation Organization of the Year Award
2012 Eastern Maumee Bay Chamber of Commerce Prism Award for Community
Improvement

www.bsbobird.org
www.ohioyoungbirders.org
www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com

BSBO on Facebook and Twitter
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