If I Were Going...

Northern Watersnake

I just spent the past few posts (OK, the past FOUR of SIX posts) talking about birding in northwestern Ohio at the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB).

During my almost 10 days at the event, I went on five guided van tours (each from about 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.), attended one on-site event to watch American Woodcocks doing their courtship dance (in full dark), attended four lectures and a banquet and spent all my "free time" birding at multiple sites around northwestern Ohio's bird-rich Lake Erie shore.

It was exhausting, but I saw 144 species of birds, gained 13 Lifers and captured lots of great photos of both the new and repeat birds.

Finally decent photos of an American Redstart!

I had some really special moments, including ...

Seeing a King Rail that had been captured by a banding team

Getting to know a new part of the country

Seeing colorful Warblers in their breeding plumage (here: Magnolia, Chestnut-sided)

Encountering some very-hard-see bird species (here: Eastern Whip-poor-will)

Watching at least 20 Hawks (mostly Broad-winged) fly over in just a few minutes

Meeting lots of very interesting fellow birders

Of course, when you bird, you are looking for birds. Duh!

But, I am always looking for anything interesting, including ...

Animals (here: Midland Painted Turtles) ...

... bugs (here False Potato Beetle) ...

... and flowers

Let's see what else I saw during the week ...

Green Frog

Common Carp

Northern Watersnakes in Lake Erie

Eastern Fox Snakes

Eastern Gartersnake

Common Whitetail Skimmer

Muskrat

Eastern Cottontail

Red Squirrel

White-tailed Deer

Eastern Raccoon

A huge swarm of Honeybees

Common Snapping Turtle

Common Map Turtles

Midland Painted Turtles

Spiny Softshell Turtles

You may have noticed how muddy the water is in some photos. Yes, many tributaries into Lake Erie are extremely muddy, especially after recent rains.

Weirs Rapids, Maumee River

It was interesting to experience a part of America that I really haven't visited very often. Now, when I think of Ohio, I will first think of the incredible phenomenon that is spring migration.

Eastern Wood-Peewee

While experts find it difficult to pinpoint an exact number, some sources estimate that 3.5 billion birds migrate across the US in the spring. Birds fly northward each spring along unmarked routes known as flyways. Birds traveling along two paths, the Atlantic Flyway and the Mississippi Flyway, sometimes overlap above Ohio.

Maps: Perky Pets

Some are passing through and many stay in Ohio to breed.

I saw Indigo Buntings in Roatan in April and then some in Ohio in May; same ones?

Birds are famous for not staying in their lanes.

Of the nearly 2,000 species of birds that live in North America, 450 have been documented visiting the state, the majority in May.

I also saw Summer Tanagers in Roatan

What a marvelous trip!

Male Tree Swallows

But, it wasn't really over. I still had to drive home.

Off to the north woods!

Trip dates: May 3-21, 2025

A Baltimore Oriole on the Estuary Trail

The Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) is famous for Warblers (see my last post). But, there were so many other birds.

I am going to briefly run through others I saw without all the detail I provided on Warblers unless there is something special about the bird.

I saw birds ay multiple places, including …

Magee Marsh Boardwalk

Along the Maumee River

Crane Creek Estuary Trail

Howard Marsh (this is a Common Gallinule)

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Winous Point

The Wilds of Erie County

Oak Openings Metropark in Toledo

Metzger Marsh (this is a Northern Cardinal)

Let’s look at some of the birds I saw ...

Vireos

A family of birds that had good representation at BWIAB was the Vireos, a genus of small passerine birds restricted to the New World. Most have dull greenish plumage (hence the name, from Latin virere, to be green), but some are brown or gray on the back and some have bright yellow underparts. They resemble Warblers except for their slightly larger size and heavier bills, which in most species have a very small hook at the tip.

Although most Vireo species are found in Central America and northern South America, nine types occur in the US; I saw six of those at BWIAB:

Blue-headed Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Red-eyed Vireos

Warbling Vireo (very common at BWIAB)

White-eyed Vireo (this is one of which I previously had no picture)

Colorful Birds

There was quite a bit of color in that group of Warblers we already saw, but they weren't the only birds with pretty breeding plumage ...

American Goldfinch

Baltimore Oriole

Lots of Baltimore Orioles

Cedar Waxwing (colorful-ish)

Indigo Bunting

Orchard Oriole

Immature Orchard Oriole

Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Scarlet Tanager

Summer Tanager

Immature Summer Tanager

Common Birds

There are always those birds that we see all the time (or at least frequently). And, of course, there were lots of them (one even has "common" in its name) ...

American Robin

Black-capped Chickadees

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Blue Jay

Eastern Meadowlark

Brown Thrasher

Common Grackles

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Male Red-winged Blackbird

European Starling and Eastern Bluebird

Gray Catbird

House Finch and Eastern Towhee

White-throated Sparrow

Savannah, Chipping and Song Sparrows

White-crowned Sparrow

Northern House Wren

Swainson's Thrushes

White-breasted Nuthatch

This one is not that common, but it didn't fit anywhere else: Ovenbird

Fast-flying Birds

Everywhere we went were hosts of speedy birds, including Swallows, Swifts and Martins. I never captured a Chimney Swift, but I did get some others ...

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Purple Martins (male and female)

Tree Swallows (male and female)

Plus a couple of lovestruck Tree Swallows

Flycatchers, Woodpeckers and Kingbirds

I saw many Eastern Kingbirds ...

A good assortment of poses

... plus lots and lots of Flycatchers ...

It is virtually impossible to tell these two apart, by my guides said Alder, left, and Willow

Great Crested Flycatcher enjoying lunch ...

... and taking off

Eastern Wood-Peewee and Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

And, in the Woodpecker family ...

Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpeckers (there were sooooo many)

Northern Flicker, exciting for me because ...

... it was yellow-shafted instead of red (this one was chased by a Common Grackle)

Water- and Shorebirds

Bear with me here. The "black swamp" area is wetlands.

Dunlins feeding in the marsh

... and wetlands mean water- and shorebirds, of which there were many, some common and some not ...

I saw hundreds of Canada Geese and only two Pied-billed Grebes

So what did I see?

Great Egrets were the most common shorebird (but Snowy Egrets were rare)

Another Great Egret

One of many Great Blue Herons

I saw this nesting Green Heron every day

There were Killdeers in multiple habitats

Some of the many, many Dunlins

Spotted Sandpiper (with spots!)

Belted Kingfisher

American Coot

Common Gallinule

A pair of Wood Ducks in the trees

Male and female Wood Ducks

Male Mallard

Hooded Merganser mom and her fuzzy brood

Trumpeter Swan with its neck stained by iron, tannin and mud in the water

Canada Goose family

Common Tern

Ring-billed Gulls

It may be a wetland, but don't forget to look up ...

Double-crested Cormorants

American White Pelicans

Raptors and Nightjars

I love Raptors and I felt like I didn't see that many until I started sorting through photos.

Bald Eagle

First of all, the marshes have multiple Bald Eagle nests.

Standing guard over nests

There were at least two at Magee Marsh, three or four at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and a smattering around the other places I visited.

Nest at Magee Marsh

The Eagles seemed healthy with multiple large "chicks" in the nests.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Although I didn't see Hawks on a regular basis, when I was at Pipe Creek Wildlife Area we saw at least 20 Hawks (mostly Broad-winged with a few Red-tailed) flying over as they migrated north.

Many of the migrating Hawks were juveniles

One Broad-winged Hawk even landed

I saw Eastern Screech Owls in three different places, some on multiple occasions.

Most were napping

And, a few Raptors were just single appearances ...

American Kestrel

Osprey

The Black Vulture, left, was rare for Ohio; Turkey Vultures, right, were common

One day, I saw a sleeping Common Nighthawk on the Boardwalk ...

It was there all day

... and, then, one evening, I saw another napping in the parking lot ...

In a tree right above my car

I stayed with the latter until about 8:30 p.m., when it took off to hunt with its buddies ...

I watched the one in the parking lot until it lifted off for its evening hunt

Nests

Throughout my travels, I saw many nests ...

Trumpeter Swan

CW: Gray Catbird, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, two American Robin nests

... and lots of nest-building ...

CW: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, Black-capped Chickadee, Eastern Kingbird

A Black-capped Chickadee spitting out wood chips it excavated from a log

Female Prothonotary Warbler in her nest

Lifers

I mentioned that I saw 144 species, of which 13 were Lifers. I was able to photograph only 10 of the Lifers. I did not get useable shots of a Chimney Swift, American Woodcock or Mourning Warbler, but I did get five new Warblers that I already covered ...