24hrs/24 warblers...OHIO (5 May)

So the Tropical Birding guides treading the boards at Magee Marsh decided to run a personal competition between ourselves - The World Series of Warblers (i.e.who could rack up the most warbler species in a day?) So Cameron Cox, Scott Watson and myself pursued all we could with the shame of loss a constant threat, as well as the incredibly predictable punishment of a round of beers looming too...

The day started well for me, with a male Cape May Warbler singing sweetly in the car park; however as we were all together at that point, no advantage was played! In the morning I also walked into the lingering Worm-eating Warbler again with remarkable ease, and caught up with many Bay-breasted Warblers, seemingly one of the more numerous species decorating the Magee boardwalk on this day. Similarly, Hooded Warbler, ordinarily one of the trickier warblers, from a set of scarce southern species, also proved easy, and I nailed killer looks at a hooded male early on. However, the Cerulean seen by others, including Scott, one of my co-competitors, proved elusive all day long, and cost me dearly. Picked up one my first Wilson's Warbler of the season, along the "new" Crane Creek Estuary Trail on Ottawa NWR, a trail has proved productive since it opened for its first spring last year (i.e. Kirtland's ALL day), and is proving so again for this season. It took me an age to find an Ovenbird and Blackburnian, and even a Halloween bird-American Redstart-and I added a late found Pine Warbler, although it was all too little, too late. Cameron Cox walked away as top dog with a remarkable 27 species, equalling my best ever day total at the site, while Scott sat just behind him on 26, and I came in with a shameful 24 species! What did I miss you ask (that was seen that day)? Answer: Northern Parula, Cerulean, Prothonotary and Blue-winged. The game is due to be played again soon with Andres  and Keith also joining the game to spice things up. All-in-all though this was widely touted as quiet day at Magee, with low warbler numbers, but high diversity of species with at least 28 species recorded on the day. Not bad for a "poor" day!

On top of that the local Tree Swallows were in fill song and in full colour as the spring sun lit up their metallic blue coats...

More from Magee very soon...

WarblerFEST...OHIO (4 May)

Anyone who has experienced the warbler viewing at Magee Marsh/Ottawa rarely does not return, and days like this one make it easy to understand why. By the end of the day I had totaled 24 species for the day, with the top dogs among them being male Cerulean, male Hooded, Worm-eating, male Golden-winged, a pair of Blue-winged, and lots and lots of Blackburnians who seemed to be completely unaware that there was a perfectly good canopy to feed in overhead, and so hung out low down and photogenically, all day long...

In between all of these warblery treats, I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and managed to get a last minute bus ride to a local Ruff within Ottawa NWR. I was particularly pleased with this one as it was a male in breeding plumage, with a black ruff, chestnut head, and beautifully black-scaled underside, and an almost ruddy turnstone like upperside. In short, one of the best shorebirds I have ever seen.

More Magee Marsh updates, and yet more warbler to come...

Birding with Sam..OHIO (3 May)

Today was a special day in a number of ways, I racked up a personal total of some 23 warbler species (not your average day anywhere); AND I got to bird with some "budding birders", the young Hinklets, Sam and Madison Hinkle. They are young birders becoming keener with every single bird. They, as many children are, are discerning, and particular in their approach. Sam stated early on he liked seeing the same birds again, but really liked seeing new birds, and so our objective was clear, find Sam a new bird.

Madison is a little different, she is doing her own BIG YEARin her local area which just so happens to be the Ottawa NWR/Magee Marsh area of Ohio, and so is sure to get a good total. So Madison needed a new bird for her year list. We managed to kill two birds with one stone, with the help of their birding mother Rebecca (a good friend of mine), and found them an American Woodcock, a lifer for both of them and a new year bird for Madison's BIG YEAR. On top of that warblers dangled invitingly in front of them. I sincerely hope Madison and Sam keep up their birding and continue to enjoy nature as much as they appeared to on this day!

More from Ohio soon...

Magee Marsh...OHIO (2 May)

While we (Scott, Andres and I) skimmed around the various hotspots in this Ohio Migration Mecca yesterday, today we focused our attentions on just the one site: Magee Marsh, and its now-famous boardwalk. Never had warbler viewing been so easy as at this venue, and by the end of the day I am sure everyone present would agree. Early on it appeared the day might turn out to be a dud, with precious little warbler activity compared to yesterday, but slowly but surely birds were picked up and the Magee punters (and I include myself firmly in that category) were persuaded to beam at the action, which by the end of the day included a couple of stellar warbler species.

Early pleasers for me at least was my first male Cape May Warbler of spring, always a key moment in spring for me, followed after by the citrus tones of a male Prothonotary Warbler yelling his "SWEET-SWEET" song at me.

Then things went quiet for me until an afternoon flurry when I caught up with a foraging American Woodcock, a showy and photogenic Cape May, and then a ridiculously tame Kentucky Warbler, which had a male Mourning Warbler for company too at times....

More from Ohio soon

Warblering....OHIO (1 May)

And so we (Scott Watson and Andres Vasquez and I) moved on from the Upper Texas Coast, landed in Cleveland last night and were checking out the Ohio migration hotspots today. We stopped in first at Magee Marsh where we enjoyed a flock of four cranes flying over and another Sandhill Crane along the Crane Creek Estuary Trail, while warblers were provided by Palms by the dozen and the odd Blackburnian and Tennessee. Next stop was Ottawa NWR where we found a powder blue male Black-throated Blue Warbler feeding in the South Woods, and then the Boss Unit (better known to local birders as simply Benton-Carroll Road), of the refuge revealed 3 Pectoral Sandpipers from their bright shiny new shorebird viewing platform (good work to all who donated and were involved in producing that-a great addition to the season!) 

Lastly, we stopped in at Metzger Marsh (once we had worked our way around the rather inconvenient-for the timing with the birding season-detour), which provided the best birding of the day. The tiny lakeshore lot held both male Blue-winged Warbler and male Hooded Warbler, and both behaved in a way that they were determined that every birder would see them! Along with them were Blackburnian Warbler, male Scarlet Tanager, Great Crested Flycatcher and Northern Parula. Along with all of this first-rate action were tons and tons of Yellow-rumped Warblers in full spring regalia. A great first day on the shores of Lake Erie. I am fired up for more...

Updates to come regularly here and on my twitter feed (@samwoodsTB) soon...

The Silky Road...COSTA RICA (28 Feb)

We packed a lot in on this day. We set off from San Jose, and checked out Tapanti National Park, where Andrew Spencer had seen some quality birds in previous years (notably Ochraceous Pewee, Streak-breasted Treehunter, and Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl, which I was still yearning for). On arrival, we quickly added a treehunter to my list quick smart, right where Andrew had seen it before, years earlier! Then we tried his near owl spot, and what do you know, after a duel with the I-Pod, an angry looking Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl was added to my life list, and better still the park was absolutely devoid of people. Andrew, Tayler Brooks and I had it too ourselves, and it was wonderful. 

We, however, could not track down the hoped-for Pewee, and so headed over to Paraiso de Los Quetzales later in the day to feast on Fiery-throated and Magnificent Hummingbirds and try and pick up Costa Rica's marquee bird, the Resplendent Quetzal, while we were there. On site we enjoyed some top notch views of Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, and of course, their loaded hummer feeders, although the quetzal, despite nesting at the time, was elusive and we had to settled for a female.

In the evening (and after visiting Cerro del la Muerte again-more to come on this soon), we headed over to La Georgina and checked in there for an assault on Savegre the next day, among other sites...

LIFER FINCH...COSTA RICA (27 Feb)

Today we spent quite a bit of time dipping into different sites - Poas Volcano was notable for my first ever Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatchers, while Virgen del Soccorro was visited for its Sooty-faced Finches, which performed beautifully. 

Wish I could have said the same for their Golden-bellied Flycatchers which stayed rooted to the top of a tree and well out of photographic range. The feeders ar Cinchona and La Paz Waterfall Gardens (almost $100 to get in!) though we great with a migrant Broad-winged Hawk posing behind Cinchonas, while hummers and tanagers dropped in to the feeders, including my lifer White-bellied Mountain-Gem, and the Costa Rican endemic, Coppery-headed Emerald among others. 

At night we returned to San Jose, downed a Denny's meal, and plotted where we would see photos next on this flexible jaunt around Costa Rica...