I'm Behind Again...and so are my photos!

 Howard Marsh at sunset...

Howard Marsh is an amazing place! Open for the past three years , it was farm land for the last hundred years or so. Donated to the Toledo Metropark system, they've done an astounding job of transforming the land back to it's original marsh habitat.

There's plenty of trails wrapping around and going through the area. You'll have the opportunity year round to see a number of species that migrate through, ducks in fall and winter, shorebirds in early spring and late summer and all of the wonderful migrants that make the Biggest Week in American Birding so great!

The high point for me was seeing the breeding black-necked stilts! It's been nearly sixty years since they bred in northern Ohio...and now we have TWO pair nesting here! And on top of that they're easy to see with one pair nesting near the benches near the boardwalk.

Next time Magee Marsh...and WARBLIES!!!!

The boardwalk is fantastic for seeing the stilts, grebes and coots...even old ones like me!

A juvenile bald eagle was eating his dinner atop a muskrats home...yummee!

A pair of American wigeons, a couple of gray and white things(ho-hum) and a peep gang!

Black-necked stilt booty!!

A stilt trying to get away from me...I can't understand why...

One of the two pairs nesting and breeding here!

I think I was discovered staring...

Them leggies is long!

Blue-winged teal waaaaaay back in the marsh...

this is cropped quite a bit!

Just a lowly brown-headed cowbird...

Lots of great egrets were fishing in the marsh...

A lonely horned grebe just floating through life...

This killdeer was leading me away from it's nest...

Oopsie...adult supervision required for this Osprey photo!

Baby making time!

Taking a break after his little soiree...

Even the red-winged blackbird was shocked!

Hmmm...a semipalmated sandpiper, a dunlin and a lesser yellowlegs(which is hard to tell from that angle!)

Another semipalmated sandpiper and a lesser yellowlegs...maybe... not the best with shore birds butt I'm trying!

And my little song sparrow buddy!

Stay tuned for the warbly migration at Magee Marsh and the Biggest Week in American Birding!

 

It's only the Start of Spring Madness and The Biggest Week in American Birding!

Yep, the Bald Eagles are on the nest and there's beebees in there!

Well, hello again! It's me Dave back with more exciting(?) adventures of birding at the magnificent Magee Marsh. It was a mostly cloudy and chilly day...butt better than working! The warblies have yet to arrive en masse, butt there's a few birds other than warblies out there. Honest, would I lie about such a thing? 

Oh, and that new camera and lens? Loving them, more pixels and quicker and sharper focusing! Woo-hoo!

I hope to see you out there! I'll also be at the BSBO gift shop on the 6th and 12th. Stop by and say hello! 

I wonder if anyone ever reads this silliness...

 

Ooooo! It's a sleepy lil Eastern Screech Owl...

I should put a snek warning at the top of the post, butt I didn't!

It's just a little Garter Snek.

 At last a warbly! And I almost missed it. Thanks to some other happy birders, I got another warbly booty!

 Just in case you were wondering what the inside of a rotting tree looked like...

You're welcome.

 I have yet to capture the ruby crown of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet...one of these days!

This Rusty Blackbird was hiding in the marsh...butt that crazy song of his gave him away!

 And the high point of the day!!!

This Virginia Rail was close AND building a nest!

 This was the closest I've ever been to a Virginia Rail

 I didn't detect a southern accent either...

 There were a lot of White-throated Sparrows skulking about in the leaves looking for good juicy buggies!

 Once again I leave you(for now) with the rump of a Yellow-rumped warbly!

Thanks for stopping by! See ya soon!

Back to life and Magee Marsh!

The empty boardwalk at Magee Marsh. In a week it will be packed with birders and birds! 

(Taken with a new fisheye lens!)

 

Sometimes life gets confusing and you have to take a break. I took six months without a camera and being lazy at home. Work has been crazy on and off, which has kept me occupied. Now I feel the urge to get back to nature and find some cool birds out there!

 

To help motivate me, and empty my piggy bank, I invested in a new Canon R5 mirrorless full frame camera and a Canon RF100-500 zoom. I picked a crazy time of year to learn new gear, butt what the heck...how bad could it be? The sharpness is amazing and it's light enough for me to use without a monopod. I'm still trying to work the manual focus override to get between all the branches where them warblies hide, butt I'll figure it out...in a year or two!

This Bald Eagle looked a bit confused, just like me! Eagles abound in this area...what a manly scream he let out!

My first warbly of the year and it's a Black-and-white Warbly! A good sign for things to come!

A lovely little Black-capped Chickadee...

 

A Blanding's Turtle with his Midland Painted Turtle buddies...just chillin'.
 

A shiny Common Grackle, some folks dislike them, butt they're so cool to see!

  A Grackle gracking... 

 

A very shy Downy Woodpecker...never did show his face...
 

An Eastern Cottontail...just a hare out of focus!

Mahahahahahaha!

A loner Midland Painted Turtle...so sad...

Guess this butterfly!!

  If you guessed Red admiral, you're better than me!

 

Sometimes I'm just not fast enough!

I blame it on a new camera...

(It's a Red-bellied Woodpecker by the way.)

I think female Red-winged Blackbirds are very attractive...and a little confusing at times!

"What's that big sparrow?!"

A tiny little bird on speed...a Ruby-crowned Kinglet...a perpetual motion machine! No, he's not angry with me, it's just a shadow...

A White-throated Sparrow skulking around the underbrush looking for yummy worms!

This pair of Wood Ducks seemed to be searching for the perfect nesting site...this wasn't it.

It's a Yellow-rumped Warbly from behind! The start of a new year for me!

 

Stay tooned for more birds and stuff!