“Do you need an American Redstart?” asked the fellow with the green “Biggest Week” baseball cap as he looked upward at the 25-foot tall tree in front of us.
“Yes, I do,” I replied.
And he proceeded to tell me where to look.
“It’s at 11 o’clock. Look at the top of the tree, go down about three feet. There’s a male Redstart, moving downward toward the trunk of the tree.”
If you’re a birder in the Midwest, you know this week kicks off The Biggest Week in Birding, a ten-day birding festival held in northwest Ohio where thousands of birders gather to watch the spring migration of songbirds.
And yes, I’m one of them.
For the past two weekends, I’ve spent my time birding at three of the birdwatching spots for the festival: Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, all on Lake Erie’s southern shore.
The lake is a barrier for the songbirds as they migrate north. The birds stop in the wooded areas near the marshes before crossing the lake and heading north to coniferous forest where they nest.
One of the biggest attractions for birders is the large number of warblers that move through northwest Ohio. Warblers are small birds, usually less than five inches in size, with beautiful breeding plumage.
I love traveling to northwest Ohio to watch the spring migration and to be part of the birding community, which is amazing. Like the fellow who helped me find the female American Redstart, birders are always helping each other to find and locate birds.
Last weekend I was glad to have a trio of birders tell me how to find the Great Horned Owl chicks; the chicks left the nest three days ago.
So what birds have I seen? Here’s my bird list:
- American Redstart
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- American Robin
- Eastern Towhee
- Common Yellowthroat
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Golden-winged Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- Tennessee Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Palm Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Northern Waterthrush
- Common Yellowthroat
- Scarlet Tanager
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Great Egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Pied-billed Grebe
- American Coot
- Common Moorhen
- Baltimore Oriole
- American Eagle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Brown Thrasher
- Veery
- Warbling Vireo
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Green Heron
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- American Goldfinch
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Blue Jay
- Killdeer
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Eastern Screech Owl
- Great Horned Owl
- American Golden Plover
- Greater Yellowlegs
- American Woodcock
- Tree Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Purple Martin
