Biggest Week - NW Ohio

[Skull Guy]

This will be our 5th year going to the Biggest Week, we really enjoy going despite the crowds of people! We have found many off-the-beaten-path locations where the birds are fantastic. Just wondering if anyone else is going? This year we are hoping of catching Kentucky Warbler (the final eastern wood warbler we need to see) and Henslow's sparrow. Anyone have their own out of the way birding spot in that area? Feel free to message instead of broadcasting for the masses!

[Skull Guy]

We braved the bitter cold north winds off Lake Erie and the driving rains and freezing nights. The birding was fairly miserable, very few birds have made it to NW Ohio because of lack of suitable migration nights. We birded hard and long, ending with 124 species for the trip... far short of our 150 species goal (and 167 species record). Highlights at Magee were dozens (literally) of bald eagles. Everywhere you look, EAGLE. Every ebird checklist had eagle on it. Eagle, eagles, eagles! My 4 year old son learned what a great egret is, since every single flooded road-side ditch had several lurking. Based on miserable birding in the Magee Marsh area and harsh north winds forecast for Sunday night into Monday, we decided to venture 2.5 hours south in hopes of warmer weather and more birds. We ended up landing in Stark County Ohio, at a place called the Wilderness Center. There we were treated to several Kentucky Warblers (Lifer #393) and great looks at yellow-breasted chat (second record ever) and many white-eyed vireo's. What an incredible park, excellent trail system, variable habitat and lots of birds! We planned to spend 3 hours there, and spent 6. We could have stayed days.

Despite the miserable birding in the Magee area, we met some great folks and enjoyed some wonderful time around the campfire. Highlight was meeting a youngster that was just getting into birding, there with her grandparents (who didn't care too much for the birds, but were very willing to tag along. Really excellent people). We invited them birding with us for a morning and that was a real pleasure.

'Til next year, Magee...

[Kevin]

On 5/11/2021 at 10:39 AM, Skull Guy said:

We braved the bitter cold north winds off Lake Erie and the driving rains and freezing nights. The birding was fairly miserable, very few birds have made it to NW Ohio because of lack of suitable migration nights. We birded hard and long, ending with 124 species for the trip... far short of our 150 species goal (and 167 species record). Highlights at Magee were dozens (literally) of bald eagles. Everywhere you look, EAGLE. Every ebird checklist had eagle on it. Eagle, eagles, eagles! My 4 year old son learned what a great egret is, since every single flooded road-side ditch had several lurking. Based on miserable birding in the Magee Marsh area and harsh north winds forecast for Sunday night into Monday, we decided to venture 2.5 hours south in hopes of warmer weather and more birds. We ended up landing in Stark County Ohio, at a place called the Wilderness Center. There we were treated to several Kentucky Warblers (Lifer #393) and great looks at yellow-breasted chat (second record ever) and many white-eyed vireo's. What an incredible park, excellent trail system, variable habitat and lots of birds! We planned to spend 3 hours there, and spent 6. We could have stayed days.

Despite the miserable birding in the Magee area, we met some great folks and enjoyed some wonderful time around the campfire. Highlight was meeting a youngster that was just getting into birding, there with her grandparents (who didn't care too much for the birds, but were very willing to tag along. Really excellent people). We invited them birding with us for a morning and that was a real pleasure.

'Til next year, Magee...

Too bad about the weather but it sound like you had a nice trip over all.