18 May 2009 This should have been a day for celebration as the immature male/female Kirtland’s Warbler lingered on for the Monday morning crowd. However, the reality was that this slippery Kirtland’s was more elusive than the Scarlet Pimpernel, leaving more than a few birders frustrated, and many left empty-handed. Birders scoured the area shortly after dawn and were left wanting with no sign of it in the vicinity of the Sportmen’s Migratory Bird Center at Magee. However, a few diligent birders stuck to the task and did not allow themselves to wilt after early negative reports from the area, and at around 11am got their just desserts when they found this sneaky warbler of the northern jack pines hanging out once again close to the area it had been at the last call the night before. Word trickled down to the boardwalk, and in the early afternoon another select crowd enjoyed further sightings of North America’s rarest warbler, which then promptly went to ground again thereafter. Much effort was put into relocating the Kirtland’s in the afternoon with just another short reported sighting around mid-afternoon to show for it all up until at least 7pm The Kirtland’s clearly bucked the trend of all other seasonally immigrant Magee warblers, and was downright difficult to see, demanding a lot of effort, a little dedication, and a good dose of luck. A strange departure from the normal warbler drill at Magee where you can just turn up and watch them dangle temptingly in front of you! A nice distraction from the main no-show event was a couple of obliging Mourning Warblers that time and again defied their usual shy reputations by hopping around in the open and allowing all and sundry to glass them near the Sportsmen’s Center. Aside from this there were the occasional Maggies, several female “tiger” warblers (Cape Mays), and a few Willow Flycatchers seemingly setting up territories there. Back at the Magee Marsh boardwalk warblers were clearly a little thinner on the ground than in previous days, and we would welcome the widely predicted next big push in the coming days. However, a bad day in Magee could feasibly be a big day by many other place’s standards. The “usual suspects” were still in town – with Bay-breasteds still numerous, Northern Parulas buzzed from the treetops, Blackburnians thrilled us when they ducked in low down, while Magnolias and American Redstarts continued their recent dominance. The odd Blackpoll song still rang out from the treetops, although unlike recent days they decided to hang out up there for a change of scene, making them more challenging to come by. Black-throated Greens were conspicuously absent; although their numbers had been dropping off for the last few days, and the death knell of their spring was nigh anyhow. No new Prothons were reported but this did not seem to bother the birders blazing the boardwalk, as two pairs continue to make Magee their home for the summer, both still attending to nest-building duties on and off during the free BSBO–guided morning walks. Away from the usual warbler antics thrushes were much in evidence, with Gray-cheekeds around although never as plentiful as the numerous Swainson’s Thrushes plying their trade in the leaf litter. Veerys too continued to shuffle through the underbrush, one particular individual appearing to have an Ovenbird shadowing its every move. Away from the warbler party was several Ruddy Turnstones working the Erie shore north of the parking lot for the Magee boardwalk, and a Yellow-headed Blackbird sent waves of excitement through the Metzger Marsh crowd in the afternoon when a citrine-headed male cruised across the marsh around 4.30pm. In summary, the day should have been dominated by the sweet talk of the “special K” (Kirtland’s Warbler), however, while talk did center around it, this was mostly for all the wrong reasons as people dropped everything to chase it, only to arrive and find that it had gone the way of the pimpernel: “They seek him here, they seek him there…seek him everywhere”. Let’s hope the bird continues its stay at Magee and decides to adopt a more regular and predictable routine, or failing that let’s just enjoy the next wave of “immigrants” arriving on their northward journey over the next few days, as winds have shifted to the south and should reveal a new batch of birds for our viewing pleasure very soon! Sam Woods/Tropical Birding (www.tropicalbirding.com) Black Swamp Bird Observatory Bird Guide in Residence (www.bsbobird.org) Lost in Birding Blog (www.samwoodsbirding.blogspot.com) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]