Mindy et al. Glad to hear of your interest in joining the great natural spectacle of spring migration along the western basin of Lake Erie. Some great advice has been already put out there and no where else in Ohio and maybe the east is the migration picture of land birds better understood. Kim has eloquently laid out the "Biggest week in American birding" and what it offers to bird enthusiast. The dates of that event aren't by accident. It is a culmination of over 30 years of migration monitoring, the last 20 daily research that has identified timing and abundance of the feathered passage through the Black Swamp Bird Observatory work. Visit the website and some of it's pages to get a better picture to predict for yourself. http://www.bsbo.org/birding/migration.htm http://www.bsbo.org/passerine/migration_timetable.htm http://www.bsbo.org/passerine/fall_passerine_migration_monitoring.htm Each will help you, but each year is different and you need to watch the weather to predict major movements. The second wave (May 7-13) is the wave of diversity and its second pulse (May 15-20) is generally the largest volume. While averages have their value they can be misleading on any given year as there is a confidence level surrounding that average. If you have to choose now pick the 15-16 as it will be between good and great. May 1-2 can be a total bust on some years as that second wave has not arrived and the first wave can often be weak in diversity. So check out the information on the Black Swamp Bird Observatory website for data backed suggestions and for up to the day info later. And join in the Greatest Week in American Birding for the many educational opportunities as well as great birding. Mark Shieldcastle Research Director, Black Swamp Bird Observatory Oak Harbor On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 11:15 AM, Bruce M. Bowman <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Mindy- > > My analysis of 14 years' worth of spring migration data for Magee Marsh > Wildlife Area indicates that to maximize both warbler count and total > species count, the optimal time to bird there is May 10-11. May 17 > stands out as a date nearly as good. See > > http://www.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/se_mich/mi_bird.html#stats > > But, really, you shouldn't expect there to be any great difference > between the weekends of May 1-2, May 8-9, and May 15-16. Between the > May 1-2 weekend and the May 15-16 weekend, though, I would choose the May > 15-16 because you will see more warbler species then--19 average per day > vs. 14 average per day. See the table below. > > Total no. No. of > of species warbler species > > May 1 63 14 > May 2 60 14 > Average 1-2 62 14 > > May 8 60 15 > May 9 67 17 > Average 8-9 64 16 > > May 15 60 19 > May 16 62 19 > Average 15-16 61 19 > > The above results are based on 111 spring migration birding trips to > Magee Marsh. > > Bruce Bowman > Ann Arbor, Michigan > > Date sent: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:58:54 -0500 > Send reply to: "Billingham, Mindy F." < > [log in to unmask]> > From: "Billingham, Mindy F." < > [log in to unmask]> > Subject: [Ohio-birds] Magee Marsh in May > To: [log in to unmask] > > > Hello- > > > > > > > > I am hoping to head up to Magee Marsh in May for the big spring > > migration. I had heard that the weekend of the 8th is the best but I > > won't be able to make it then. I am trying to decide between the weekend > > before and the weekend after. Does anyone have recommendations as to > which > > one is better? Is one better then the other? > > > > > > > > Thanks in advance! > > > > Mindy > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > > > 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] > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > 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] > ______________________________________________________________________ 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]