WARNING! *Adult oriented material*...Oooooh!

So, there we were, minding our own business, walking along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh...when the Doodles spots a female Baltimore Oriole right above us!

We stop to admire her subtle beauty and her industriousness. Slowly shredding the bark from the branch to start work on this years nest, carefully gathering it up in her marvel of a beak...

When all of a sudden, Mr. Cool pops up right behind her...
"Oh yeah, this is one hot mama, woo!"...

A typical hard working homemaker, she keeps on pulling nesting material while Mr. Cool has his way...for all of three seconds. Yeah, you're cool...ha.

"Can you believe the nerve of that guy?"..."You're going to destroy those photos aren't you?"
I seem to remember Pamela Anderson asking that same question...

Needles in Haystacks...

Somewhere in the middles of all that tangle is a Mourning Warbler...see it?

I found more photos, go figure! I thought I would post a few of the examples of what it's like searching for warbly things with all of the vegetation in full leaf.

There's always somebody saying:
"It's right there! Next to that big tree with one squiggly limb and three leaves that are green, behind the third branch down from the tree in front, wait, it moved, now it's up two feet in between the skinny tree and the medium tree and the shrub! See?!"...nope, I don't.

I just start shooting and hope something is in the frame. That's how all of the pros do it, right?

On top of never getting a good Mourning Warbler shot,
I have yet to get a photo of a Hooded Warbler that's not hiding from me...one of these days!

And then there's the "Common" Yellowthroat...common to hear, not common to see.

Even the Magnolia Warbler were playing hide and seek!

Every once in a while, they come out to play!

White-crowned Sparrows love Bela Lugosi...they told me that once.
Mwa-ha-ha!

Oh look, a Cape May Warbler out in the open!

And then you spot a Canada Warbler...and your flash goes dead.
He disappeared back into the leaves anyway...

A Black-capped Chickadee from behind!

Black-and-White Warblers are one of my favorites.
She's a cutie!

And then there are those rare instances that the bird is too close to get the whole body in the frame...not that I'm complaining!

I still haven't finished going through all of the photos. One day soon! I'll post the Doodles shots of all the people and places...and lest he does damage soon, Bobb will have his own post.

**A SPECIAL NOTE!**

There was a fire and our neighbors, the great folks from Tropical Birding lost all of their optics, gear and passports. They showed great support and help to all of the birders that visited our area during the Biggest Week in American Birding.

We are hoping that we can now help them with donations to cover the costs of replacing their uninsured gear.

Please contact the Black Swamp Bird Observatory at www.bsbo.org for more information!
Thanks!
Laurie and Dave

The Birdiest Week in American Birding!

This is a White-throated Sparrow doing an impression of me after this crazy week of birding.

It certainly was the "Biggest Week!" A total of 236 species were spotted by the guides from Tropical Birding during the fest. Me and the Doodles were lucky enough to see 142 species all together, including 29 warblers AND FIVE(5) LIFERS!! I told you Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and the surrounding areas are the greatest place to be for the spring migration!

The folks from Black Swamp Bird Observatory and especially, Kim Kaufman, were outstanding hosts. I don't know how they organized all of this, Kenn even managed to get a Kirtland's Warbler to show up. Mad skillz.

I have no idea what I'm posting tonight. We are really tired after all of this May-hem...and I still have photos to download. I think I shot close to 2,000 photos of birds, bugs and other wildlife. The Doodles burned in her new camera with close to 600. We'll post some of the great people
we've met, or re-met, the gorgeous scenery of the area, and of course more of the wildlife! Did I mention Bob? Yeah, he was there...causing minor problems...

As you can see by this peek-a-boo playing Baltimore Oriole, the leaves were well ahead of schedule this year.

Everyone was on the boardwalk this May!
Even the Black-capped Chickadees were birding the boards!

Here's a Chestnut-sided Warbler warbling.
Everyone thinks these warbly things are so cute and cuddly.

Well, here's proof that they are a vicious bunch!
Look at the mighty talons on that pint sized pugilist!

How often do you see a Common Nighthawk from behind, eh?
You'll only see it here folks!

And then we have a Northern Waterthrush from above...

And a Prothonotary Warbler with nesty stuff...from below!
"Nesty Stuff" is the technical term if you were wondering...look it up.

Red-eyed Vireos are very rude. They like to play "looky-looky" with their food.
I think Bob was egging him on.

This Veery was getting tired of waiting for me to take the picture...cranky bird.

Oops, I forgot to put the "Snake Warning" label on this post. It's okay, he's a happy snake!

The Doodles just told me another wave of warblies should be in this coming weekend. I don't think I'll get caught up for a while...