Ok, first the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area birds seen today. 1. magee Causeway marsh - Trumpeter Swans, Wood Duck, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, D.c. Cormorant, G. Blue Heron, Great Egret, SNOWY EGRET IN PEAK BREEDING PLUMAGE - great photos' Renee - nice red around the eyes and on the edge of the upper bill. I have never seen that before. LITTLE BLUE HERON - snaking through the marsh, Green Herons and American Coots. Also seen were Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Red-tailed Hawks. Killdeer, Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper were seen along with Herring Gulls, Caspian Terns and Forsters Terns. 2. Magee Boardwalk birds - Sora's - playing with each other - how cool is that, Great-horned Owl young, Chimney Swifts, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpecker along with N. Flicker. Warbling Vireos are singing and in good numbers now and we still have lots of Blue jays. The swallows are in good numbers with Purple Martin, Tree, Barn, and N. Rough-winged Swallows. A Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Swainson's and Wood Thrush were seen. Birders also saw Gray Catbirds, Tenn., Nashville, Yellow, Cape May, B.t. Blue, Yellow-rumped, B.t. Green, Pine, Palm, Black & White, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, N. Waterthrush, C. Yellowthroat - causeway marsh, and Wilson's Warbler. A male Summer Tanager was seen again, along with White-throated, White-crowned, Song, Chipping, and Lincoln's Sparrow. Finally, people saw N. Cardinals, R.b. Grosbeaks, and Baltimore Orioles to mention a few. 3. BANDING STATION AT BSBO - They had an Ovenbird, Myrtle -Yellow-rumped, Palm, and Yellow Warblers nearby. Also banded were Red-winged Blackbirds and American Goldfinches to mention a few. 4. BSBO Window on Wildlife - has a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole feeding on the orange right-by the window along with PURPLE (RASPBERRY) FINCHPurple Finches at the seed feeders. 5. OTTAWA NWR BOARDWALK - had wonderful looks at a Bald Eagle, Turkey Vultures, a Red-tailed Hawk, Canada Geese and their goslings, American Goldfinches, House Wrens, beautiful male Red-winged Blackbirds showing off their red-wing patches to each other along with Common Grackles and Blue jays. The morning Nature Tots program was a success and the kids used their newly made bino's to look at the goslings and we all watched several Turkey Vultures soar above us. The blackbirds were very active and so were the bright yellow male, American Goldfinches. We had the boardwalk pretty much to ourselves. Please go visit the newly finished boardwalk behind the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuges building. It's very relaxing and the birds are very active and you might just see some great warblers too. Last year a Golden-winged Warbler was seen there. Yesterday, Laura and I heard several Yellow-rumped, Yellow, and Nashville Warblers along with a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. If you want a nice birding and peaceful place away from all the crowds, then Ottawa's boardwalk and the intersecting trails are the place to go. I truly love this place and the scenery is second to none. 6. Toussaint Wildlife Area - Dan and Barb Myers joined me for a Saturday walk here in the afternoon. We had a wonderful time and the birds were fantastic. We had the very best look at a male Cape May Warbler -only 6 feet away - in our lives. Dan took some 20 or so photos. We watched it climb-up the bark of a tree at eye level and scare-up insects. Then, it would jump-out at them as the insects flew-off the tree trunk. The dark red check patches and the heavily black-streaked yellow chest was spectacular. The thick white wing bar was snow white and the multicolored streaked pattern on the back will stay in my mind forever. Ok, by now you know the Cape May is and will be forever my favorite warbler in the whole world. We watched this bird for at least 5 minutes and we had the ENTIRE WILDLIFE AREA to ourselves. Here is a list of what we saw here today. D.c. Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Green Herons, Trumpeter Swans (with the female on the nest) man that was awesome, the female actually reminded me of a giant American Avocet with her orange stained head and neck with that white body. Also seen were Canada Geese with lots of goslings, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, 23 Gadwall, an adult Bald Eagle, a good look at a migrating Sharp-shinned Hawk and an adult Broad-winged Hawk (Dan & Barbs first of the year). Then, we saw a huge Sandhill Crane fly right by us. Our only shorebirds were two Solitary Sandpipers but they were really nice to see. We also spotted two Herring Gulls and three Forster's Terns. As we walked along the grassy dikes we discovered Chimney Swifts, Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers, a great look at an Eastern Kingbird - first of the year for us, a nice close-up of a Warbling Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. We heard a few Blue jays in the distance and managed to see Tree and N. Rough-winged Swallows, a House Wren scolding us up-close, several American Robins and a few Gray Catbirds. As for the warblers we saw several Yellow warblers, 40 plus Yellow-rumped and Palm warblers. These guys were everywhere. We even had our second YELLOW PALM WARBLER of the year. Dan, Barb and I also had our first male Common Yellowthroat of the year and not to mention the male Cape May. Our state bird, the N. Cardinal didn't disappoint us as well as a male Indigo Bunting, Chipping, Song, Swamp, White-crowned, and White-throated Sparrows. The blackbirds were active today as we saw several male Red-winged Blackbirds displaying and chasing females around. There were lots of fly-over C. Grackles, a female Brown-headed Cowbird, several American Goldfinches and to end the list, House Sparrows in the man-made parking lot of course. Hope your birding day was an enjoyable one too. Later birding fans, Christopher J. Knoll Education Director Black Swamp Bird Observatory 13551 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 Phone: 419-898-4070 Fax: 419-898-1363 PS Hope your feeling better soon Kim. We really miss you here at BSBO. Its just not the same place without you. Chris Visit us at: www.bsbobird.org www.ohioyoungbirders.org We are the proud sponsor of the Ohio Young Birders Club. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. 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