A Warbler Chaser’s Dream

This week’s photo, taken May 14, 2013 at Magee Marsh in Ohio, features a KIRTLAND’S WARBLER, North America’s rarest warbler.

The Kirtland’s Warbler is smart enough to spend the winter in the Bahamas. Then in the spring, it migrates more than a thousand miles to its breeding grounds in north-central Michigan. About 50 years ago, only a few hundred Kirtland’s existed, and the species was at risk of extinction. Fortunately, thanks to successful human efforts to manage the warbler’s breeding habitat in Michigan, the population has increased more than ten-fold since 1987. That’s encouraging, but 10 times a small number is still a relatively small number.

At noon on our second day at Magee Marsh, we learn that a female KIRTLAND’S WARBLER has been found in vegetation along the east beach. So we immediately head in that direction. After trudging along the shore of Lake Erie for a 1/4 mile, we have no difficulty finding our target bird. We simply locate the 75 birders bunched together in a tight semi-circle, each person aiming either binoculars or a camera at the bird that all warbler chasers dream of checking off their life list.

For the next hour, we as a group move as an amoeba, frequently changing shape as we try to keep up with our constantly moving specimen. Sometimes, it feeds on the ground, and sometimes it leaps from the ground to snatch insects from the undersides of leaves. Most of the time, it travels quickly within a tangle of branches, while frustrated photographers strain and struggle to capture an unobstructed image. The Kirtland’s Warbler seldom comes out into the open, but when it does, the resultant sound of rapid-fire clicking of cameras is reminiscent of paparazzi working the red carpet at the Academy Awards.

To view 7 of my warbler photos from Magee Marsh, click on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweeneyfit/

Below are the 27 warblers I observed at Magee Marsh, May 13-17 (followed by a short list of non-warblers I enjoyed):

Northern Parula

Orange-crowned Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Kirtland’s Warbler

Palm Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Louisiana Waterthrush

Mourning Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson’s Warbler

Canada Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Some other interesting birds I observed include:

American Woodcock

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo

Great Horned Owl

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Scarlet Tanager