Biggest Week In Birding

The Nerdy Birders recently spent two days at Magee Marsh and other bird and wildlife locations in Ottawa County near Lake Eire. The spring migration of birds was in full swing. Most notably was the Warblers. Early in May Black Swamp Bird Observatory puts on the Biggest Week in Birding festival. The festival includes guided bird walks, trips out onto Lake Erie, musical acts, and even best bird tattoo contest. You can read more about the festival here.

El Capitan

JoAnna and I were talking the other day about our upcoming trip to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Although we are really excited about the birds and wildlife we will see in these two iconic places we are even more excited to see El Capitan. It is difficult to understand the magnitude of this granite rock formation. Yet after a quick search on Google for "scale of El Capitan" I found the picture below that someone had created. It shows some man made structures inserted next to the granite face of El Capitan. If this is true to scale then we are in for a real jaw dropping moment.

Happy Birding! 

Metzger Marsh

I wanted to share a video that I captured at Metzger Marsh last Friday. Lots of birds were seen but I wanted to share this first. More to come later.

Enjoy!

Kirtland's Warbler

The Kirtland's Warbler is an endangered species in the United States so there are few places that this bird can be seen. One place is in the northern part of Michigan where the Kirtland's find the Jack Pines they need to breed. In the summer months it spends its time in Michigan and then in the winter it returns to the Bahamas. Yesterday the Nerdy Birders were in luck. Twitter began to blow up with a sighting of a female Kirtland's. Twitter did not really blow up it was more like a slow murmur but the Nerdy Birders heard it. The Kirtland's was spotted in Oak Openings Metropark a mere ten miles from our house.

Spring Migration

Spring is upon us here in Northwest Ohio and that means the warblers are coming through along with many other migratory birds. This is the Nerdy Birders first spring while officially birding so most of the birds passing through are new to us. So far this spring we have seen the following birds. Sorry some of the pictures are not very good.

The Great Horned Debacle

The Nerdy Birders have returned from our trip to Arizona with new enthusiasm and excitement for what this spring may bring. We are looking forward to the biggest week in birding, the promise of warmer weather, and yet another trip west to Yosemite National Park.