Every May, as the birds migrate, so do the birders. One of the best places to watch migration is in Ohio, of all places. I'll explain why later.
The Biggest Week in American Birding is a 10 day festival that coincides with migration in northwest Ohio along Lake Erie where 235 species would be seen this year! Nicole and I decided to spend two weeks away, roadtripping up from Florida. We combined this trip with her move from Miami to Georgia for her new position with the National Park Service.
Nicole packed up all of her belongings in Miami, then drove to Key West for a last minute opportunity, a pelagic (birding boat tour) to Dry Tortugas. Afterwards she drove from Key West to Sarasota, arriving at 2am. When she woke the next morning, I showed her the pair of Swallowtail Kites that have been hanging out in Gina's backyard!
Our plan was to take three days to drive north, giving us plenty of time to bird along the way, however the pelagic meant we only had two days and no wiggle room as we booked the last van tour available at the festival and it was for 6am on day one of the festival. We still managed to stop a few times along the way to bird. Most notable was the Lexington Cemetery. Wow, what a great place with beautiful trees, ponds and a river. It was so large we were lost for a good half hour, but I saw my first wood thrush, baltimore oriole and rose-breasted grosbeak.
Black and White Warbler (above) Wood Thrush (below)
We also stopped at Nicole's home in Georgia to offload the stuff she didn't need and grab some warm clothes for me, an extra sleeping bag and chair. I am the worst packer when living in one extreme and packing for another (and the distraction of little voices saying "mommy, mommy, mommy..." adds to the difficulty of the situation). It was in the 90s when I packed, so I ended up choosing mostly short-sleeved shirts and completely forgot both my down and rain jackets that I intended. I'm so lucky Nicole and I can share clothes!
Nicole's parents have an impressive garden from which we picked our salad
while heating the dinner her mom had so thoughtfully cooked for us before flying to Germany.
We left shortly after eating and slept at Cabela's so we'd be north of Atlanta's mad traffic. In the morning we joked about how we should have slept in one of their tents set up all around the outside of the store. That would be funny, but I'm pretty sure I'd be banned from the place after that stunt.
We finally arrived at the festival's conference center, Maumee Bay State Park, early for our 6am guided birding tour. We loaded into the van with 2 guides and about 8 other people. I became nervous right away when our guides let us know they'd never been to the locations on our itinerary, even though one lived locally. Our other guide, Esdras, normally guides birding trips in Honduras, so while he wasn't familiar with the area, he did know his birds, thank goodness! At this point it had been raining for days, so flooding was significant. Roads were closed and fields looked like lakes. Our problems became clear at the first location when our local guide, while holding a trail map, got us very lost and then led us thru shin deep water. We were wearing tennis shoes. And it was in the 40s, so we spent the next 7 hours a cold, wet, soggy mess. She then got lost twice while driving! I asked a couple people on our tour if this was typical and they admitted this was the worst tour they've been on and one man had taken 15 of these van tours at this same festival in previous years. Normally the driver is familiar with the birding sites and knows where to find the birds within the parks while the other guide can help find and identify the birds. When we stopped at the lighthouse, we were all shocked to see angry waves crashing into the shore. This is Lake Erie, people, it shouldn't look like this!
Half our group went birding down a trail while the other half remained in the warm shelter of the van. Once everyone was back inside, the driver wanted to abandon the planned itinerary and do an alternate drive thru a refuge instead. A mixed vote left two sides that couldn't come to an agreement on how to proceed. Fortunately Esdras made the executive decision that we should continue birding sites on our itinerary as that's what we had paid for. All but a few people were happy with that decision. Later we ended up meeting Jason, one of the festival coordinators and spoke to him about our experience. He assured us this was an unusual situation and apologized for the less than stellar experience. We ended up birding with Esdras and quite a few of the other guides over the following 10 days and they were all amazing. Most of them come to the festival every year, so they know the best birding sites very well.
The next day I met Nicole's friend, Mel, from San Diego. He was introduced to birding only two years ago and he's already giving everyone in his county a run for their money. He's now preparing to retire from life as a radiologist so that he can chase birds fulltime.
Chasing birds with Mel and Rustem
They recently took a birding trip to Panama with
Brant Tours and had an amazing time with the owners/guides Michael and Raymond. We couldn't help but laugh at their stories of a monkey jumping on Rustem's lap during a boat tour and how a "damn hummingbird was in the way" of Mel's view of a purple-crowned fairy. Spoiler alert- the hummingbird WAS the fairy he was looking for! A social occurred every night from 4-7 with light snacks and info booths from tour companies and vendors. It was there Mel introduced us to Michael Hilchey and he invited all of us to bird McGee Marsh with him the next day.
from left- Me, Nicole, Michael, Mel, Nancy and Russ
Michael is amazing at birding by ear. As we walked along, he'd call out the birds he was hearing and if one was a life or year bird for us, he'd help us locate it. He's also just a super cool guy. Turns out all three of the Brant guys we spent time with were just amazing people, incredible birders and all-around fun guys to be with. And they are huggers. They're also basically celebrities. Walking the boardwalk with them was like walking thru Nashville with Rascal Flatts. Every few minutes we'd run into people that they knew, so there were hugs and sometimes a quick conversation. It was a constant reminder of what great guys we were with and I was honestly shocked that with all the people they knew at the festival, that we were the lucky ones that they chose to bird with!
Birding with friends: Gabriel, Michael Retter and Raymond VanBuskirk
While there are countless excellent birding locations including state and metro parks, national wildlife refuges, and wildlife areas, the McGee Marsh boardwalk is by far the most popular place to find warblers during migration. This area is a magnet for birds for one big reason, Lake Erie. As the birds are headed north in the Spring, they often see the great expanse of water and decide to stop, rest and fuel up before heading across. If the winds are blowing from the north, the birds will wait it out for favorable winds that will help push them across or no winds. This can cause large numbers of birds to "pile up" at the marsh's food-laden forest. Michael explained to us how he uses the weather radar to forecast the number of birds coming to the area. It was fascinating, and something that I need to learn more about.
It gets quite busy during the festival when thousands of birders flock to the area. Here Nicole, Nancy and Mel navigate thru a small crowd.
The festival utilizes Twitter as a notification system. When a harder to find bird has been located and confirmed, a "tweet" of a different kind, will send the birders scurrying to the location. This Woodcock caused quite a stir on the boardwalk. We actually saw these guys three times along the boardwalk and one night we watched as they performed their nightly mating ritual of beeping and then shooting way up into the sky, to turn circles before falling like a rock back to the field below.
A few times there were rare sightings of one individual bird. That would really cause a mad-panic to get to the bird. The first time was when we heard the Le Conte's Sparrow was seen. I asked how we would know where to go, and as we were driving up we saw this..... Uhm, yah... I think I know where the bird was seen.
And once we arrived, it was stakeout time. Sadly we didn't get to see the sparrow
even after waiting an hour, but we did get to see the black tern (life bird)!
Another stakeout for the Connecticut Warbler. Success!
One night I saw Greg Miller, from "The Big Year" fame speaking with friends of mine, so of course I ran over to introduce myself. He was in the epic race for seeing the most birds in 1998 about which a book and movie were made. Jack Black played his part in the movie which Greg tells me for him was "very accurate down to the embarrassing details." In earlier conversations with Sandy Komito, another birder portrayed in the book and movie, his portrayal was extremely inaccurate. The movie opens with a disclaimer that it's "based on a true story. Only the facts have been changed."
We had a good conversation about birding and how it can change lives. He entered the Big Year race as a distraction from his then recent divorce and struggle with depression. Birding pulled him out of the worst of it. It's such a therapeutic sport. Surrounded by nature, focusing all your attention on hearing, seeing, finding and identifying every nearby bird, one can't help but forget about the worries of tomorrow. I wish more people understood the benefits of birding. And it's super fun!
We met Ian towards the end of the festival and birded with him the last couple days. Now a few months later he and Nicole are in tough competition with each other while racing around the US to find 100 birds in each state. Crazy birders.
The Birder Prom
Yah, sometimes we birders do crazy things. And sometimes we do crazy, fun things like this prom. I guess it started as a joke and then turned into a real thing. Nicole and I had fun trying on dresses at Goodwill and left with these beauties and only $7 lighter! Not each, total!
We met Kenn Kaufman, birder, author, flamingo-suit wearer, early in the week and attended his talk on bird identification in the field. Before the night was over, he joined us on the dance floor. By the way, his wife Kimberly, also an author and editor, is the executive director of Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) and began this festival which has grown to one of the largest birding festivals in the US. She's also super kind. When she asked where we were staying, she didn't bat an eye when I told her we were van camping. She then offered to arrange a discounted rate for us if we wanted to stay at a local hotel. We declined, we're pretty comfy in the van, but that was so very sweet of her to offer, especially with everything she has going on with the festival.
I absolutely loved the outfits that people created themselves, like this bird patterned dress with a wrap with all of Kenn's book covers on it. Kenn wrote a book about his big year in 1973 that I absolutely love. Most birders begin a big year with pockets full of money and plane tickets. He did it at 19yrs old by hitchhiking, staying wherever he could with a budget of only $1/day! It resulted in a fantastic adventure that criss-crossed North America many times from Kansas to Florida to Alaska to Mexico and everywhere in between. It's certainly a book anyone can enjoy, not just birders.
And this couple's coordinating bird boutonniere with a nest
headpiece complete with tiny eggs! Love their creativity!
Raymond left us in shock when he hit the dance floor. He and his dance partner moved so well together, I could have watched them for hours. Later he revealed that he used to be a professionally trained dancer and had to choose between dancing and starting his tour company. Lucky for us, he chose birds.
In addition to Kenn's talk, we attended a class on identifying birds by their calls and a talk by Noah Stryker. In 2015 Noah completed a World Big Year, meaning he traveled the world in hopes of seeing as many birds as he could in one calendar year. His goal was 5,000 species. He ended the year with 6,042! I'm eagerly awaiting his next book that details his adventures during that whirlwind tour.
A few of the birds we saw during the festival:
White-throated Sparrow
A young Eastern Screech Owl pushes past mom to see who's outside.
Tree Swallow
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
Prothonotary Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Another Eastern Screech Owl
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler (above & below)
Cliff Swallow- These guys were building mud nests just outside the conference center. The sounds they make while communicating with each other was very interesting and I thankfully have it on video.
Yellow Warbler on nest
And this furry guy.
Nancy's husband Russ claims he isn't a birder, but he is an AMAZING birder! He was still in town for work, and when we told him new birds had arrived, he joined us for one last hunt before he so kindly gave me a ride to Columbus to see my family.
It was hard to leave just when new birds were appearing, but it was Mother's Day and I had big plans. I was headed home for a sleepover with my mom and grandma! We ate dinner, made cookies and talked til late before falling into bed. In the morning I realized that I'd forgotten to take a picture, so I asked if we could all just jump in bed for a quick pic. They laughed hysterically. When we finally did get in bed for the picture, we were all laughing so hard, there were actual tears running down my face! I pretended to be taking extra photos, so I have it on video too! I LOVE that video!
My dad was sad for me to leave the festival on the best day of birding, so we drove back up the next day and met up with Nicole just in time to see my first black-billed cuckoo! My stepmom has been increasingly interested in birds. After this trip, both of them bought new binoculars and plan to start going on more walks to look for birds.
Checking out my dad's new theater room. My brother is proud of his hard work building this place and it looks amazing! I stayed with my brother's family for a couple nights and enjoyed spending time with them without my kiddos to distract us.
After two weeks away, I was excited to be home with my sweet husband and children! Asher told me he wants to come with me on my next birding trip because, "I'm a birder too! I love birds! I love BIRDS!" And I love him!
