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Somebody has written a book entitled WHAT ROBINS KNOW. Tonight I can tell you, they know a lot. And today they communicated at least one thing they knew.

The Magee Marsh Boardwalk runs through dense, damp forest. It is the beating heart of the most visited bird festival in America. On good days there can be twenty or more species of warblers seen from this boardwalk. Add two to four vireos, Woodcock, Whippoorwill, Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, some sparrows and woodpeckers and omnipresent Red-winged Blackbirds and you have a birdy place indeed. But not every day is memorable. Today began in an ordinary way, and so it went until…

Late this afternoon, after a rather humdrum day on the boardwalk, I was chatting with some small remnant of the day’s birding contingent. Off to our right a few Robins began making a loud ruckus. They must have something that has made them mad, I said. A House Wren also screamed and bounced with anger. Another birder nearby said she saw something big fly into that area. A quick scan turned up an unmistakable profile:

This was a Long-eared Owl, unusual here in northern Ohio. As soon as the owl’s presence was tweeted a big crowd gathered. Over a hundred birders, many with two-foot long camera lenses crowded around the places where the owl could be seen.

OTHER GOOD SIGHTINGS:
Male American Goldfinch.
American Bittern

Bullfrog.

Purple Martin on imitation gourd nest sight.

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I’ve finally seen the Prothonotary on its home territory, not a vagrant on the Pacific Coast. And I’ve heard the male singing. A soft, consistent “tse-tse-tse-tse-tse.” The species is a cavity nester. And a stunner in looks category. Today’s encounter makes me feel like a Protho Pro. Magee Marsh may really live up to its claim, “Warbler Capital of the World.”

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This female woodcock brooded her four eggs in a grassy median between two rows of parking slots at Magee arsh. Today they hatched. These woodcocklets are but a few hours old.

Black and White Warbler, often acts like a nuthatch by working tree trunks.

Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Magnolia Warbler, does not sport a subtle design.

Capoer May Warbler leans out for a morsel.

Whip-poor-will. Works all night, sleeps all day.

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Two Tree swallows discussing their potential future home. Ottawa NWR, Ohio.

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Here at Magee Marsh in Ohio today we birded across the spectrum. Not a color was left unseen. Some samples: Cerulean Warbler. We were not singing the blues because this blue was singing.

Here at Magee Marsh we viewed nearly every color in the spectrum at some point today.

Black-throated Blue Warbler male.

The Blackburnian Warblers today were on fire. The bird with the burning throat.
My first ever American Golden Plover, in full breeding plumage.

Hooded Warbler.

Purple Martin in flight.

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BIRDS FROM TOP: Eastern Screech-Owl catching some mid-afternoon shuteye.
American Woodcock nestled down in leaf litter, look for the large dark eye.
Male Bay-breasted Warbler.
Carolina Wren. Male Cardinal. Downy Woodpecker, eastern variety has far less white spotting on wings than western individuals. Magnolia Warbler male.

Eastern Cottontail.
Dawn at Magee Marsh, when the action begins each May morning.

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The Black and White Warbler is common here in eastern U.S.but it’s great fun to watch for this westerner. As migrating birds stack up egher onthe south shore of Lake Erie they awairt a favorable southerly wind. And they eat and eat. It is nearly sixty miles of open water they have to fly over to reach Canada.
The hunt for food trumps most caution and shyness as warblers habng off low limbs lookingo for prey.

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I haven’t gone to Kentucky, but today Kentucky came to me. And all the while I was in northern Ohio. Magee Marsh to be exact. Here’s what it looked like.
This brillibnatly colored skulker is one of the prized gems of thge Biggest qweek of Birding during spring migration.
I picked up more than a dozen warbler species in a first day of birding. More pics tomorrow.

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After a full day on airplanes and in airports and only one lost bag (thanks, United) I am now in northwestern Ohio near Magee Marsh. A reknowned migrant warbler trap, it is the current site of the nation’s largest birding festival. Hoping for that first Cerulean tomorrow. [It took three days.]
This festival is headed by Kenn Kaufmann and his wife. They call it birding’s biggest week. There are even birding billboards along Ohio Route 2!
One last pic from recent California trip: a jackrabbit in a narrow sliver of shade at Sacramento NWR:

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The residents of Portland have a nice wildlife regude at their backdoor–Tualatin River NWR. I stopped for an hour this afternoon as I prepare to fly to Ohio for big bird fest. A Black-bellied Plover in breeding colors, flanked by some of the Long-billed Dowitchers with their beaksburied in their work.

Pair of Flickers chiseling out this spring’s nesting hole in a dead snag.
Tualatin River NWR–Atfálat’i Unit, Washington, US-OR. Apr 30, 2013 3:00 PM. 33 species

Canada Goose X
Gadwall X
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X
Northern Pintail X
Green-winged Teal 60
Ring-necked Duck X
Lesser Scaup X
Bufflehead 1
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
American Coot X
Black-bellied Plover 2
Semipalmated Plover X
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Western Sandpiper X
Long-billed Dowitcher X
Vaux’s Swift 10
Northern Flicker 2 chiseloing a nest hole
Western Scrub-Jay 2
American Crow 5
Tree Swallow 150
Barn Swallow 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 2
European Starling 1
Song Sparrow 3
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brewer’s Blackbird X
Bonus photo: an American Goldfinch female feeding on weed seed at Tubbs Island, San Pablo Bay NWR over the past weekend.