King of the Marsh!...

 This is an Eastern Kingbird, very kingly, but not king of the marsh...

 I had a birdathon day last Friday with trips to Sheldon's Marsh, then Magee Marsh and finally Howard Marsh...10 hours of wandering not including the driving...I was beat! I need to remember to eat once in a while as well...

I show pics from Sheldon and Magee later on...butt right now I had an exciting find at Howard's! It was the end of the evening for me, the wind picked up and it was getting chilly...and dark. So...I decided(or actually my stomach decided) to turn around and head back to my wee little bird mobile and head for home...and food!  As I was heading back I heard some crazy sound coming from the marsh just ahead of me. It sounded like a rail, but it was LOUD!  I walked a little faster then stopped when I thought I was in the right area of the thickening reeds.

I stood there for about fifteen minutes before I heard the call again, watching intently for something to move. Every time it called I tried to find the center of its call. I wanted someone else to hear it, but I was the lone fool enjoying the marsh with the mosquitoes. Should brought more bug spray...add that to food. Finally there was some movement in the darkening marsh. Hot dog! There's the bird!

I watched it moving very slowly around in the background, carefully finding little meals hidden away. Amazingly it was walking towards me! I could see it look up at me a few times when my camera was clicking away. Ooooo...I thought at first Virginia Rail, butt looking at the size of it, like a small chicken, I thought "Hot Diggitty, it's a King Rail!" I saw one only once before, from a distance and got no photos of any quality. It was about 8:30pm now and I actually got a few decent shots.

I wonder if he'll find his soul mate in this amazing area?

 The King of the marsh!

Playing peek-a-boo through the grass and reeds.

 This American Coot was nearby doing a crazy dance to get my attention...it worked.

 I think he was a little embarrassed of himself...

 I swear I heard this lil angry Barn Swallow bark at me...

 Get your hip boots out! There's more little fuzzy poopers on the way!

(aka Canada Gooseseses...)

I forgot to mention the Snowy Egret...

 For you lovers of gray and white birbs...

Terns and Gulls...left terns I believe and gullibles.

 This is way I don't show more shorebird photos.

Uncropped image of Dunlin....waaaaayyy back there!

 Great, another Egret.

(Get it? Great Egret?!)

 And a Snowy Egret showing off his spring finery.

Looks better on him than some rich ladies hat...

 Until this Osprey flew into the nest, I didn't notice it was occupied.

I wonder if there's beebees yet?

 Yep, still love those Song Sparrows!

 A rude Spotted Sandpiper, just walking away form me while I'm talking...

Just in case you were wondering...I did indeed get a life butt shot of the King Rail!

Until next time...love those burdz from all directions!

A Little Warbling at Magee...

 This young male American Redstart looks so much like a female that he can sneak around behind the other males backs...and...uh...well you know, do that birds and bees stuff...

 Another fine day at Magee Marsh in the warbly month of May, the 10th to be exact. I've been birding more than posting, go figure...Magee Marsh, Howard Marsh, Meztger Marsh, Sheldon Marsh, Maumee, Ottawa NWR and of course close to home in the Cuyahoga Valley. It's been a good month!

I didn't see the quantities that I spotted last year, but it was still a good mix of species. Odd weather definitely had an effect on what was around...but, as we hear from our "highly intelligent" president, there's no such thing as climate change...what a moron...anyway...let's get back to the birds!

 There were quite a few female Black-throated Blue Warblies!

 Those darned Blackburnians are going to make me crazy!

They're always too high up when I see them...one of these days I'll get a good shot...maybe...

 Bald Iglet Booty!

He was getting all flippy flappy in the nest...impatient kids.

A lil Cape May Warbly from behind of course!

 A lil Cape May Warbly not too happy about my photo...women always get upset about that.

 Cape May's were the bird of the day!

Get the bugs before they get us!

 This Northern Parula was showing me the fresh catch of the day...and the one that got away below him...

 This tree had this Nashville Warbly in it along with a Tennessee, a Parula and a Yellow-throated Vireo. Sometimes it pays to stand still and stare at one area!

 Gotta love those Magnolia Warblies!

 My friend Deb spotted this Green Heron...and yelled at me to take this photo.

So bossy sometimes...

 People keep over looking the regulars like this Downy Woodpecker.

Don't take the common place for granted, there are lots of folks around that have never seen these!

 This Chestnut-sided Warbly was gathering nesting material...I would love to find one of their nests!

Like many birds, their population is on the decline.

 Oboy! Another Northern Parula!

 A rarely idle Ruby-crowned Kinglet...at least long enough for one shot.

 A lovely Tennessee Warbly snatching a juicy bug...

Ya know, they don't breed in Tennessee...just passin' through...

 Such an innocent face...

 Speaking of innocent faces, this little Warbling Vireo was singing his mixed up song right above.

 A nice couple kindly pointed out the nest of a Yellow Warbly. With a little patience and standing still, in popped the warbly with more nesting material.

I'll stop back soon to check out the progress.

 This was the first time I got a decent behind of a Yellow-throated Vireo!

...and someone wasn't too pleased about it...

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for visiting!

Meanwhile, Back at the "Other" Marsh...

 American Coots are so rude!

This butt flashing is a precursor to a rumble...

This area of north western Ohio by the great Lake Erie is an amazing place to explore in May...or any other time of year. So many parks and wildlife areas! On this day I left Magee Marsh, not an easy thing to do, and headed out to Howard Marsh Metropark. This park has only been open for a year and it's already garnered a lot of attention. In the past few weeks, in addition to the regular marsh birds, black-necked stilts have been spotted nesting, yellow-headed blackbirds have been seen regularly and a pair of red-necked phalaropes are out there somewhere!

If you're anywhere near the area, you must visit! And if you're not afraid of water...like me...you can kayak all through the wetlands...cameras can't swim...

 This is what happens after a coot flashes his bum...rumble!

 This went on for quite a while...they must have got a hold of some bad duck weed...

 This one was laughing at them the whole time...

 A lone Barn Swallow fluffed up cause it was cold and windy!

I tried that, but it didn't work for me...

 Apparently Dunlin run in gangs.

 The only gull I'll take a photo of is the Bonaparte's Gull.

I have yet to see one tuck his wing into his breast pocket...

 The only duck close enough to me was this lone Blue-winged Teal.

I also saw Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Bufflehead and American Wigeon.

 I was so excited when I saw the Black-necked Stilts as I thought they were life birds in the U.S.

I saw them in Panama years ago...and then I discovered I had photos of them at the San Diego Bird Fest. Still new in Ohio and a great bird we don't see often.

 Though they wern't near by, I shot close to 100 photos of them...I can't help myself sometimes...

 Killdeer are the only shorebird I can identify.

I think I need more practice...

 Lesser Yellowbooty...uh...Yellowlegs.

 Once in a while I can get a shot of the other side too!

 A Northern Rough-winged Swallow looking majestic.

 This Pied-billed Grebe spotted me and was zooming quickly into the reeds.

Ya know, I never noticed their black throat before.

 Short-billed Dowitchers should be called Long-billed Dowitchers and Long-billed Dowitchers should be called "Really-long-billed Dowitchers."

What do ya think?

 Gotta love those Song Sparrows!

 Among all of the Spotted Sandpipers out there, this one really "stood" out...he only had one leg.

It sure didn't appear to be a problem.

 We gotta fly now! I'll be back soon with more from Magee!

Stay tuned...