|
|
|
May-Hem
2009 Revisited with . . .
Kenn Kaufman's
Best Bets for Birding
|
|
Monday, May 4, 2009
Migration forecast May 4 - 12
Right now (Monday May 4) in the Magee / Crane Creek
region we have a great variety of migrants, although not
huge numbers, and the warblers and other forest
songbirds are spread through all the area’s woodlots,
not just concentrated along the immediate lake shore.
Birders are finding good concentrations of migrants even
in forest patches several miles south of the lake. The
key to variety right now is to check a variety of spots
rather than just concentrating on the Magee boardwalk or
any other single hotspot.
A high-pressure center is passing to the north of us,
and northerly winds have shifted to easterly winds which
will probably continue Tuesday May 5, but by Wednesday
May 6 there should be a good flow of air from the south.
On that basis, I expect a good arrival of birds on
Thursday May 7. There may be a lot of rain in areas to
the south of us on Wednesday night, which could limit
the number of birds coming from a long distance, so
Thursday probably won’t be a massive fallout, but it
could be pretty good.
Some more migrants will probably show up Friday morning,
but it’s uncertain what will happen later on Friday. The
forecast is for a low-pressure center to pass right over
this area sometime Friday night. Depending on the timing
of this, and the location of associated rain showers (if
it happens at all -- the weather prediction could change
a lot before then) we could have a really major fallout
of migrants on Saturday May 9 or we could have
relatively few. Regardless, Saturday should be a good
day for birding, with moderate temperatures and not too
windy. Sunday is likely to have most of the same birds
as Saturday, although perhaps in smaller numbers, as
northwest winds overnight will probably keep most of
these birds in place.
Looking farther ahead, current weather predictions lead
me to guess that we could have another major arrival of
birds on Monday May 11 or especially on Tuesday May 12,
but of course the weather forecast that far out is prone
to revision! We’ll have to wait and see how the forecast
changes. But there’s a possibility that the 11th or 12th
could be very good days.
Visitors to the area should be aware that the hotspots
near the Lake Erie shoreline will have good numbers of
birds literally every day from now through the end of
May. In spring, these spots are not totally dependent on
fallout conditions, as some migrant traps are; birds
moving north will pause at the lake shore, so even on a
"bad" day in May there will be a lot of birds around.
People who have seen the Magee boardwalk on a fabulous
day may be disappointed when it’s only moderately good,
but still, even on a poor day, we can see more migrant
warblers here than we could at most places on the
continent.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/04/2009 11:37:00 AM
|
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Migration update May 7 - 9
As usual, the weather forecast continues to
change slightly, and with it the outlook for
the next big arrival of migrants. There are
probably a lot of birds arriving here within
the next few days, but it’s still hard to
pinpoint when they’ll get here.
Of course, a lot of migrants are here
already. In the lakeshore migrant traps
there are hundreds of warblers of at least a
couple of dozen species, and there are also
many migrants scattered through the wooded
patches well south of the lake. Some birds
(such as White-crowned Sparrow and
Rose-breasted Grosbeak) seem to be more
common away from the lakeshore at the
moment. But it’s clear that the second major
wave has not come in yet. "Early" warblers
such as Yellow-rumped, Palm, Black-throated
Green, Nashville, etc., are still dominant,
and the huge influx of Magnolia,
Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, and other
"mid-season" warblers has not arrived in
force.
The current weather prediction (Wednesday
May 6, mid-afternoon) suggests that the
current southerly winds will shift to
northeast tonight as a minor low-pressure
area passes, and then shift back to the
southwest after midnight. After that, the
winds are supposed to have a strong
southwesterly component through Thursday and
Friday, May 7 and 8, before swinging back
around to the northwest sometime Saturday
morning.
On the basis of the wind patterns, there
should be migrants arriving the next three
mornings, Thursday through Saturday, May 7 -
9. Because of the shifting winds tonight and
the amount of rain to the south of us, I
don’t think that Thursday will be the big
arrival. What shows up on Friday and
Saturday will be partly dependent on the
amount of rain in our area and to the south
of us -- the forecast is for scattered
showers, but a lot depends on just where
those showers fall, and when. Still, it
looks like there’s a good chance for a major
influx of migrants on Friday and Saturday.
Additional notes: Phil Chaon found a calling
King Rail at Mallard Club Marsh Wildlife
Area (east of Maumee Bay State Park). The
species has been present at this location
the last couple of years also. American
Golden-Plovers have been seen several times
recently at the northwest end of Ottawa NWR
(on unit MS 2, visible from the east end of
Veler Road).
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/06/2009 04:28:00 PM
|
Friday, May 8, 2009
May 8: Big migrant fallout
This morning (Friday May 8th) we're having
an excellent movement of migrants in the
vicinity of Magee Marsh, Ottawa NWR, and
nearby areas. Total numbers are hard to
convey, of course, but while standing in
just ONE spot near the entrance to the
boardwalk at Magee this morning for just 20
minutes I saw 13 species of warblers (well
over 100 individuals) plus Orchard Orioles,
Scarlet Tanagers, Veery, Lincoln's Sparrow,
dozens of White-throated Sparrows, et
cetera. In the space of a couple of hours of
wandering around, I was never in a spot with
no migrants visible, and I saw / heard more
than 20 warbler species and a few thousand
individual migrants. In addition to the
birds that had arrived overnight, there was
a good diurnal movement going on as well,
with hundreds of Blue Jays and smaller
numbers of waxwings, goldfinches, Bobolinks,
etc., plus a couple of flyover Red-headed
Woodpeckers.
It will be many hours before we know the
total diversity present today, but I wanted
to get the word out that things were
happening, in case anyone can take advantage
of the news.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/08/2009 10:59:00 AM
|
Sunday, May 10, 2009
May 9-10: Major migration wave continues
Friday, May 8, was a major day at Magee
Marsh, Ottawa NWR, and nearby areas on the
lake shore of northwest Ohio, as already
reported. Saturday was another huge day;
numbers were somewhat reduced from Friday
(partly because a lot of White-throated
Sparrows departed) but variety was still
great, with many more Blackpoll Warblers and
others apparently having arrived overnight.
During the day Saturday the wind shifted to
the west and the temperature dropped. The
north edge of the woods (south edge of the
parking lot) at Magee was outstanding all
afternoon, with many, many warblers feeding
very low, apparently resorting to that area
to be out of the wind.
Early indications today (Sunday May 10) are
that numbers and variety are still
excellent: the northwest winds overnight
apparently kept yesterday's hordes of
warblers and other migrants from departing.
With the cooler temperatures today, the
birds are still feeding low, for excellent
views.
Numbers will probably continue to be fairly
good through Monday, then drop off Tuesday
and Wednesday. Right now it appears that
Thursday, May 14, may be the next big day,
but I haven't taken a detailed look at the
weather yet and I may have to revise that
prediction.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/10/2009 10:35:00 AM
|
Monday, May 11, 2009
Migration forecast May 12 - 16
In the migrant traps near the Lake Erie
shoreline, the fine birding continued
through today (Monday, May 11), with very
large numbers and excellent variety of
warblers and other migrants present. Despite
the lack of favorable winds for migration,
there was some turnover evident; for
example, on Monday there seemed to be more
Northern Parulas and fewer Blackpoll
Warblers than there had been on Sunday in
the area of Magee Marsh. But the birders on
the boardwalk continued to be thrilled with
extreme close-up views of warblers and other
choice migrants.
In terms of weather, the week ahead looks
like an active one, and the forecasts keep
changing to some extent. On the basis of
current forecasts, it appears we’ll have a
strong air flow from the south both Tuesday
and Wednesday nights. There could be a very
good arrival of migrants near the lake shore
on the morning of Wednesday, May 13 (and a
lot of the migrants that are here currently
will probably be gone that morning as well).
There could be an even better fallout of
migrants on Thursday morning, or it could be
a bust. What makes this hard to predict is
the question of what’s going to happen with
major rain storms that could move through
the area. They could hold the migrants back,
or they could put them down right on top of
us. This is just a guess, but I think the
rains could be positioned right to produce a
good fallout not only here, but across the
lake from us at Point Pelee, on Thursday.
Looking farther ahead, the forecast is for
the wind to go back to the north with the
passage of a minor cold front on Thursday
night, so Friday may not produce a lot of
migrants. But the wind is supposed to go
back to the south on Friday and through
Friday night, and another good influx of
migrants should come in Saturday morning,
May 16. There are likely to be scattered
showers on Saturday, but the birding should
be good anyway for those Toledo Naturalists’
Association members taking part in the North
Coast Open, and for Ohio Ornithological
Society members attending the conference in
Perrysburg.
A few notes for birders visiting the Magee
boardwalk in the near future: a couple of
pairs of Prothonotary Warblers seem to be on
territory along the boardwalk, with a very
obliging male singing close to the boardwalk
around number 3. Also, there are still a few
Rusty Blackbirds present. That species
passes through this area in large numbers in
late March and early April, so most are gone
by now, but a couple have been foraging in
shallow water near number 7A and near number
13. On Sunday, several birders passed these
off as Common Grackles at first. Certainly
there are plenty of grackles around, but if
you see a lone individual foraging in
shallow water, it’s worth a second look.
Also, if you go out the spur of the
boardwalk near number 10, listen for the low
hooting chuckling note of Least Bittern out
in the marsh there.
For numbers on the boardwalk, see our map
available through the main birding page
(follow the links for "birding hotspots:
maps and directions").
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/11/2009 09:21:00 PM
|
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Update: Migration May 13-16
Last night there were strong winds out of
the south, and a look at the radar picture
late at night showed what appeared to be
very large numbers of birds crossing Lake
Erie. Today (Wednesday May 13) there was
obvious turnover in the migrant traps along
the lake shore. At the Magee Marsh
boardwalk, there were many more Swainson’s
Thrushes and Cedar Waxwings than the day
before, a modest influx of Scarlet Tanagers
and Baltimore Orioles, and seemingly fewer
Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned
Kinglets. Warblers were present again in
excellent variety. I was only there for a
short time this morning so I don’t know the
total number of warbler species present (I
only saw / heard 20 species), but what I saw
included two male Mourning Warblers in
separate areas near the west end of the
parking lot. Mourning is a classic late-May
migrant and I had heard of only one
individual at the boardwalk before today.
Tonight (Wednesday night), between the high
pressure center that’s moved off to the east
and a low-pressure center sitting to our
northwest, we’ll have a strong flow of warm
air coming up all the way from the western
Gulf Coast, and a huge number of migrants
should be riding that train northward. It’s
not a sure thing that they’ll actually reach
us, because there will be a lot of rain in
the area locally, and the migrants may be
put down before they get anywhere near the
lake shore. But if they do happen to get
through, Thursday could be a very good day
all along the south and north shores of Lake
Erie -- that is, Magee and Point Pelee could
get equal shares of the wealth.
Following tonight’s and tomorrow morning’s
weather, a low pressure area will move past
us to the north and winds will probably
shift to the north Thursday night, shutting
down migration, so Friday probably won’t see
any influx of new migrants. But with the
rapidly changing weather of this season, the
wind is supposed to shift around to the
south again Friday night, probably bringing,
again, another wave of migrants on Saturday.
At this point it’s hard to say whether
Thursday or Saturday will be the bigger day
-- Thursday has greater potential, but it
could be partly shut down by overnight rain.
One way or another, there should be a lot of
migrants around for birders who visit this
coming weekend.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/13/2009 04:59:00 PM
|
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Update: migration May 14-16
With the rough weather that prevailed this
morning, I was sweating my prediction that
the birding would be good today, wondering
if the migrants had made it through. But
they had: the birding was spectacular at
Magee Marsh and other nearby areas. From
what I saw or heard about, there were at
least 27 warbler species in the area. But of
course, the number of species doesn’t tell
the whole story; what was more impressive
was the number of individuals, the excellent
overall variety (that is, there was no
single species that dominated -- we saw lots
of most species), and the fact that the
warblers were foraging very low along the
north edge of the woods at Magee, probably
to be out of the strong southwest winds.
Many species qualified as common today:
Bay-breasted, Cape May, Black-throated Blue,
Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Am. Redstart,
Ovenbird, etc., while some earlier migrants
like Black-throated Green were in reduced
numbers but still easy to find. The sheer
visibility of these warblers is amazing to
people who visit for the first time -- or
even for some of us who have been here a
lot. This would be hard to prove, but I’d be
willing to bet that more than 30,000 warbler
photos were taken at Magee today.
The winds are now shifting to
west-northwest, and by morning (Friday
morning, May 15) they’re supposed to be more
north-northwest. Probably there won’t be
nearly as much bird movement tonight as
there was last night. I assume that there
will be somewhat fewer birds in the
lakeshore migrant traps on Friday, but even
with reduced numbers it should still be good
birding. Friday night the winds are supposed
to go to the south again, so probably we’ll
have another big influx on Saturday morning,
the 16th, undoubtedly with a fair amount of
turnover.
Near the east end of the boardwalk this
morning was the first (that I’ve heard of)
Connecticut Warbler for the season. If
you’re keen to see the species, though,
don’t worry about rushing over to try to
find this individual; the peak migration for
this species typically is later, closer to
May 25, so your best chance would be late in
the month.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/14/2009 07:01:00 PM
|
Monday, May 18, 2009
Migration Forecast May 19 - 21
Yesterday morning (Sunday May 17), with much
cooler temperatures and winds out of the
north, migrants were still present in good
variety and fair numbers at the migrant
traps along the Lake Erie shoreline. Of
course, with the wind shift, they were not
quite as concentrated along the north edge
of the woods as they had been on Saturday,
so they weren’t quite as convenient for
photography along the edge of the parking
lot at Magee Marsh. But there was plenty of
variety to be found inside the woods.
Sunday’s highlight was the Kirtland’s
Warbler found by Andy Johnson and then
relocated twice by guides from Tropical
Birding and shown to at least a hundred
lucky birders. So far today (Monday May 18,
about 11 a.m.) the bird has not been
refound. See previous post for more info.
A high-pressure system over us now is moving
toward to east more slowly than expected, so
as of late morning Monday the winds are
still light out of the north. Numbers of
birds are still decent although not
exceptional in the migrant traps along the
lake shore.
After the high passes us and moves east, the
winds are supposed to shift to southeast
sometime late Monday afternoon and then
southerly for the rest of the evening and
night. Based on current weather forecasts, I
think that Tuesday, May 19, could have a
very good arrival of birds. After that the
picture is less certain, because the
forecast calls for rapidly changing wind
directions overnight Tuesday night, so it’s
hard to say what the birding will be like on
Wednesday (aside from warm, relatively calm
and pleasant conditions). Thursday, though,
has good potential, after southerly winds
Wednesday night.
Good flights at this time of month should
include an excellent variety of warblers,
with Wilson’s, Mourning, and Canada becoming
more numerous, and Connecticut Warbler
becoming more likely as we get closer to May
25th. Flycatchers are increasing in numbers
and variety: Yellow-bellied showed up in
good numbers for the first time on Saturday
May 16, and there will be more of them
through the end of the month, along with
lots of Alder and Willow Flycatchers and a
few Olive-sided Flycatchers. Swainson’s
Thrush will continue to be numerous, and
Gray-cheeked Thrush will be easier to find
now in the latter part of May. Yellow-billed
and Black-billed Cuckoos put in their best
showing in late May, and this is also a good
time for uncommon migrants like Philadelphia
Vireo.
At this point I can’t predict what’s going
to happen the weekend of May 23-24. It’s
well within the migration timing for all the
birds mentioned in the paragraph above, but
at the moment I’m getting contradictory
weather predictions for Friday and the
weekend so it’s too soon to tell what the
numbers of birds will be like. Still, if
weekends are your only available birding
times, and if you’re after Connecticut
Warbler, the next two weekends would be your
best possibilities of the year.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/18/2009 11:45:00 AM
|
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Strong overnight movement May 19-20
Just in case anyone is reading at this hour
-- at a little after midnight Tuesday night,
May 19 (or 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20)
the radar picture appears to show a huge
amount of bird movement in the Midwest.
There has been some obvious departure from
northern Ohio with birds heading north
across Lake Erie, but there is also a much
larger movement of birds well to the south
of us, in southern and southwestern Ohio and
central Kentucky, of birds headed this
direction. I'm guessing that the timing is
such that large numbers will be reaching the
latitude of the lake around dawn. We don't
have any rain or other weather predicted
that would put them down so I don't think
areas away from the lake will see big
concentrations, but there should be at least
a few new migrants virtually everywhere. In
the migrant traps right along the Lake Erie
shoreline there should be very obvious
turnover and a lot of new birds on Wednesday
morning. A good day to check out any habitat
that you have close at hand.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/19/2009 11:43:00 PM
|
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sedge Wren, Wood Thrushes
A couple of brief notes. Tom Johnson, ace
birder from Ithaca, NY, found a Sedge Wren
singing along the Magee Marsh causeway on
Wednesday May 20. I heard the bird sing a
few times on the morning of May 21. The
location was about 100 yards north of the
first pulloff on the causeway as you start
north from the woods toward the beach. Sedge
Wrens in May are often just lone migrants
passing through, but it would be worth
checking to see if this bird sticks around.
There have been a few Snowy Egrets seen
consistently along the Magee causeway also.
These birds nest on West Sister Island out
in the lake and come to the mainland to
feed. The Magee causeway is one of the best
and easiest places in the state to see this
species.
There will be migrant Swainson's and
Gray-cheeked Thrushes around for another
week or more, and a few Swainson's through
the first week of June, but Wood Thrushes
have mostly passed through the migrant traps
-- they're not being seen now in the woods
at the Magee boardwalk, for example. A good
place to see Wood Thrushes now is along the
trails at Ottawa NWR. See our map of the
refuge trails (through "hotspots: directions
and maps" on the BSBO birding pages). If you
take the boardwalk behind the visitors'
center, and then go east on the dirt trail
from the northeast corner of the boardwalk,
you'll soon pass through territories of a
couple of pairs of Wood Thrushes that
apparently will be nesting here. This area
can be great for seeing migrant thrushes,
vireos, warblers, and others as well.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/21/2009 05:05:00 PM
|
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Weekend Migration Forecast: May 22-24
The last few days (Tuesday - Thursday, May
19 - 21) have been hard to interpret in
terms of the migrants that we’re seeing on
the ground. Bird numbers seemed lower than I
had expected on Wednesday and Thursday.
During the preceding two nights there had
been favorable winds from the south, and the
radar picture late at night had shown large
numbers of birds on the move from well to
the south of us, but the numbers of migrants
along the Lake Erie shoreline --
particularly in the woods at the Magee
boardwalk -- have seemed low.
I talked to Mark Shieldcastle (Research
Director for BSBO), who has been looking at
weather and migration in this area
essentially every day in spring for the last
30 years, and asked for his perspective.
Mark felt that we were seeing a migration on
a very broad front, the birds filtering
north, not forming large concentrations
anywhere. He also pointed out that there
have been large hatches of midges recently
in the marsh region, so the birds can feed
heavily without having to move very far, and
since the woods and thickets are now fully
leafed out, the birds are less conspicuous.
The diversity in the area is still excellent
-- the BSBO banding operation has had more
than 20 species of warblers every day this
week, with goodies like Connecticut,
Mourning, Orange-crowned, and Hooded -- but
birders are having to work a little harder
now to find these birds.
(Incidentally, as I’ve mentioned before, you
can find fascinating info by checking the
BSBO website for the latest data from the
banding station, and for Julie
Shieldcastle’s “Bander’s Blog.”)
I was out checking various spots today
(Thursday May 21) and found relatively few
birds near the west end of the Magee
boardwalk, probably at least partly because
of strong winds from the west-southwest. On
the Wildlife Beach I found a lot of warblers
(mostly Am Redstarts, Wilson’s, and
Blackpolls), but mostly just east of the
dike at the west end, where the thickets are
more protected from the wind. I had a much
higher density of migrants in the woods at
Ottawa NWR in a brief check there. Again I
was concentrating on areas sheltered from
the wind, on the north and east sides of the
wooded areas (see our map of the walking
trails at Ottawa for a better idea of how
the woodlots are arranged).
Tonight (Thursday night) the winds are
supposed to continue more or less from the
southwest all night, but right around dawn,
a cool front is supposed to pass through and
shift the winds abruptly so they’ll be
coming from the northwest. If the timing of
this is just right, it could make for a
better concentration of birds in the migrant
traps along the lakeshore. I think the best
bet on Friday morning will be to check the
standard lakeshore areas (like the Magee
boardwalk area, Metzger, etc.), and then if
there aren’t a great number of birds there,
go to check areas of woods just to the
south. The wooded areas at Ottawa NWR are
excellent on some “off” days for the
boardwalk. Along the Ottawa trails there are
a lot of areas that look perfect for
Connecticut Warbler. I’m sure there have
been a few in there this week; it’s just a
matter of finding them.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/21/2009 07:47:00 PM
|
Friday, May 22, 2009
Updated weekend forecast: May 23-24
Last night (Thursday night, May 21), as
predicted, the wind was out of the southwest
until about dawn on Friday and then abruptly
swung around to the northeast. Friday was
much cooler than the couple of preceding
days in birding sites along the Lake Erie
shore.
In the woods of the Magee Marsh Wildlife
Area, there were good numbers of birds
Friday but they were mostly not easy to see.
Blackpoll Warblers, Magnolia Warblers,
Red-eyed Vireos, and Swainson’s Thrushes
were numerous. Young male American Redstarts
(like females, but more orange-tinged and
with spots of black on the face, and
singing) seemed to be everywhere. Various
other species were scattered through the
woods, including Canada, Wilson’s,
Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue,
Black-and-white, and Yellow Warblers,
Scarlet Tanager, Black-billed Cuckoo, and
White-crowned Sparrow. I had all five of the
expected species of Empidonax, including an
Alder Flycatcher singing persistently near
no. 19 on the boardwalk in the afternoon and
a single Acadian near no. 12. Most
surprising was a male Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker near the west end of the boardwalk
(around no. 3), an exceptionally late
migrant here, the first one I’d seen since
April. You never know what odd thing is
going to turn up at Magee!
The wind is supposed to continue more or
less out of the northeast for the next two
nights and days, perhaps veering more to the
east at times. It’s hard to predict what
this will do to the migration. Numbers of
birds seemed a bit higher at Magee on Friday
than on Thursday. It may be that birds
moving gradually north will pause longer at
Magee and other lakeshore sites if there are
unfavorable winds at night, so the numbers
of migrants here may build up over the
weekend. We have arrived at prime dates for
Connecticut Warbler but so far we haven’t
had a cooperative and viewable individual
for everyone to enjoy, and we hope that one
will turn up this weekend.
A couple of tantalizing birds have been
briefly present the last couple of days.
Rick Nirschl had a Kirtland’s Warbler
singing along the Magee boardwalk (near no.
14) early Thursday morning; it moved off and
as far as I know it hasn’t been found since,
but might still be in the general area. Iain
Campbell found a Ruff on Friday morning at
Ottawa NWR, on Pool 2a (see our map of the
refuge walking trails); he was able to show
it to a group, but birders who looked for it
at midday and early afternoon couldn’t find
it. This is likely the same bird found
Tuesday in a closed area of the refuge, so
it may be shifting around, and undoubtedly
some birders will check Pool 2a for it again
over the weekend.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/22/2009 05:52:00 PM
|
Monday, May 25, 2009
Migration forecast May 26-29
Last year, on May 26, 2008, I saw two
Connecticut Warblers and ten Mourning
Warblers along the boardwalk at Magee, plus
many other warbler species, Philadelphia
Vireo, Black-billed Cuckoo, etc., for a fine
birding experience. Last year on May 29 I
saw all five species of eastern Empidonax
flycatchers, good numbers of Wilson’s,
Canada, and Blackpoll Warblers, and various
other migrants. I duplicated that mix the
previous year on May 28, 2007, with four
Gray-cheeked Thrushes for good measure. So
based on past experience, I certainly don’t
consider the migration to be "over" as early
as today, May 25th.
For the last few days, though, the birding
has been slow (by local standards) in the
Magee / Ottawa area. There are still more
than a dozen warbler species being seen each
day, decent numbers of Swainson’s Thrushes,
lots of Red-eyed Vireos and the occasional
Philadelphia, etc., and this would seem like
a lot of migrants in the interior of the
state, but for this area it’s slow compared
to the typical spring day. And looking ahead
at the weather forecasts, it’s hard to say
when things will change. Tuesday the 26th
looks like it will have a lot of rain. There
should be an air flow from the south on
Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but there may
be a lot of rain to the south of us,
discouraging any migrants that remain in
that area from moving. If the weather south
of us is not as wet as predicted, we could
have a decent arrival of birds on Wednesday
May 27 or especially Thursday May 28, but at
the moment I don’t expect those to be very
big days. Winds out of the north, predicted
for Thursday night, would keep things in
place here, so if Thursday turns out to be a
good morning then those birds would stick
around for a while.
Beyond Thursday the weather predictions
become even more vague. I could see a
possible scenario where Sunday May 31 and
especially Monday June 1 could have a very
good push of migrants. The first few days of
June are well within the normal migration
period for the majority of our spring
transients, so there’s nothing far-fetched
about such an idea. But the weather forecast
is likely to change, so I’m not making any
strong predictions for the moment.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/25/2009 11:48:00 AM
|
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Multiple Connecticut Warblers 5/27
Phil Chaon tells me that the main BSBO
banding station (on the Navarre Unit of
Ottawa NWR, just east of Magee Marsh) had
five Connecticut Warblers this morning,
Wednesday May 27. In addition, Rick Nirchl
saw two at the Magee boardwalk this morning
(or one, twice, at separate locations). This
obviously means there are some around today,
despite all the rugged weather that
prevailed to the south of us last night.
Weather looks dicey for the rest of this
afternoon and tonight, and I'm guessing that
some of these birds will be around tomorrow
as well, when viewing conditions may be a
little drier. Thursday morning's weather is
supposed to be heavily overcast, but
probably not raining at first.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/27/2009 03:27:00 PM
|
Friday, May 29, 2009
Migration update 5/29
Today (Friday May 29) I spent most of the
day at my desk -- toward the end of May
Madness, here in Migration Wonderland in n.w.
Ohio, I’m so far behind on work that it’s
ridiculous -- but I did get out for a couple
of hours to see what was happening with the
migration. In just a couple of hours at
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, split between the
wildlife beach and the eastern part of the
boardwalk, I saw plenty of typical
late-season migrants that don’t nest in this
immediate area. Highlights were 2 Alder
Flycatchers, 1 Philadelphia Vireo, at least
8 Swainson’s Thrushes (including 4 singing),
1 Tennessee Warbler, 4 Magnolia Warblers, 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler, 2
Black-throated Green Warblers (including a
singing male), 10 American Redstarts (all
females and young males), 1 Ovenbird, 2
Mourning Warblers, 3 Wilson’s Warblers, and
4 Canada Warblers (including 2 singing
males). The local nesting warblers
(Prothonotary, Yellow, Com Yellowthroat) put
on a good show also. I didn’t go to the west
end of the boardwalk so I don’t know what
was seen there, but I know that at least one
Connecticut Warbler was at the BSBO banding
station east of Magee Marsh.
Looking at the weather tonight, I don't
expect a big push of migrants to come in for
the weekend. Winds are likely to be west or
northwest for most of the night. Saturday's
selection of birds will likely be similar to
what was around today. Of course everyone is
hoping that a cooperative Connecticut
Warbler will be found along the boardwalk at
Magee. There are certainly some in the
general area; the trick is to find one
that's actually viewable.
Tomorrow (Saturday May 30) there will be a
public bird-banding demonstration at the
Black Swamp Bird Observatory, just north of
Rt. 2 at the entrance to Magee Marsh, from
10 to 11:30 a.m. No guarantees on what birds
might be around, but at this late date in
May there’s a good chance that a few tricky
Empidonax flycatchers might show up to be
examined.
Posted by Kenn Kaufman
at 5/29/2009 05:54:00 PM
|
Visit Kenn Kaufman's
Best bets for Birding at:
www.bsbobird.org/birding
Last updated on
Sunday, March 14, 2010 |
 |
|
. |
|
DONATE
TODAY
Secure
Donations through PAYPAL |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
