Magee Marsh 5-15

Hello friends,

Thanks to Shane for getting our blog back online! Hooray! Now, on to the birds. A wave of migrants arrived at Magee Marsh on Friday, greatly increasing the volume of birds here. Most exciting among the new arrivals was a Kirtland's warbler at the wildlife beach! I was very excited to have finally seen this rare migrant. It provided good looks for the entire day on into the evening, but it has not been seen today (Saturday). I have heard that the Kirtland's likes to follow the south shore of the lake west towards SE Michigan, so it may be making it's way through Ottawa, Metzger Marsh, or Maumee Bay. There is a good diversity of species and better numbers right now, but the mass arrival of Friday may not be repeated within the next couple of days. Other rare sightings in the area are a Eurasian wigeon off of the observation tower at Pickerel Creek Wildlife and a Marbled godwit seen a little south of the observation tower at the intersection of Krauss and Stange Rd. A female yellow-headed blackbird was seen in a field further west on Krauss Rd, but it flew off to a woodlot just as I arrived (nuts!). Also, the monthly bird count is coming up next Tuesday, May 18. Feel free to join me at 7:00 AM at the bird center to go search for birds.