Magee Marsh, May 17 and 18, 2017

This was our fourth trip to Magee Marsh this spring.  Each time the marsh was different and the birds varied though we saw Red-winged Blackbirds all three times.

Male Red-winged blackbirds are a common Ohio bird in the Spring and Summer.  They are a delight.  The females look a little like a large sparrow, striped in tans, and browns with a little white mixed in.

The males often perch in the open and sing with enthusiasm.  One little girl told me she thought it was singing, "Oh come to meee.  Oh,come to meee.".

Tom took this picture when the bird landed on the rope closing off the area where a pair of Bald Eagles are raising two offspring.

We came a bit late in May because it was after the official Greatest Week in American Birding so the area was less crowded.  Pictures were harder to take because the trees were leafed out.  Three weeks ago, the leaves were only beginning to open.

Late spring is when the American Redstarts are migrating through.  Some remain in the area and nest.  We saw both males and females.  The two pictures below are of males.  The females have yellow feathers where the males have red-orange.

Below are some of the other birds that we saw.  Tom took all of the bird photos.

Male Blackburnian Warbler.

Two views of the Male Magnolia Warbler

Two views of the Male Chestnut-sided Warbler

Male Prothonotary Warbler

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler

The female warblers are generally drabber than the males.  The female Black-throated Blues have a rectangular "pocket handkerchief" on their wing just as the more colorful males do so I recognize them more easily than I do some of the other females.

Male Baltimore Oriole

Other birds besides the warblers come to stay for the summer at Magee Marsh or stop on their migration route to the north.  The oriole is one of them.  We stood for five minutes and watched this one glean caterpillars from the tree.

We had a bit of an adventure as we were leaving on the 17th.  As a result we left later than we usually do.  Tom stopped on the drive out so I could snap this photo with his camera.