Monday, April 27, 2015

I’m so excited….

I am sooo excited in just a little over a week I will be Ohio with so many wonderful birder friends and lots of birds!

If you want to experience a slice of Warbler Heaven…

Come join us…

Its not to late to pack your bags and join us for this amazing bird event.

 

The Biggest Week in American Birding

 

biggest weekWhere~Oak Harbor and Oregon Ohio

May 8 - 17, 2015

Q: Why come to Northwest Ohio in May?
A: Because it is quite simply the best place to witness spring migration of songbirds anywhere in North America. The southern edge of Lake Erie acts as a barrier that the birds are reluctant to cross during migration. The birds tend to "pile up" in the woodlots surrounded by marshland on the lake's southern edge to rest and refuel before crossing the Lake. The timing of their arrival is early enough in spring that the trees have not leafed out, there are no bugs, and the birds are incredibly low and accessible. No such thing as "warbler neck" around here! We get HUGE numbers of birds, much like a fallout, only better! Fallouts occur when a weather event pushes birds down, and what birders find are the weary survivors. Here in NW Ohio, we get the same huge numbers of birds as you'd see in a fallout, but the birds are active and vibrant, and by the time they get to this latitude, the males are actively singing!

 

You can register for the event here.

Lots of Wonderful  bird walks and talks.

Jeff and I will return for a third time. We attended the event a few years ago and had a blast!

It touched me to my core…to see so many beautiful birds up close…(Not just warblers)

I was teary eyed more than once on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh.

This year I am honored again to be one of the Official Bloggers of The Biggest Week.


 

And now..

a few bird photos to entice you…

These were taken with my point and shoot camera~imagine what you could do with a nice DSLR!

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler (3)

Magee_056 (1)

Black-throated Green Warbler

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Black-throated Green warbler

American Woodcock

Woodcock

Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonatary Warbler (2)

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian wabler

 

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue warbler (2)

Black-throated Blue warbler

 

Scarlet Tanager back end~you can see the front end there too!

Scarlet tanager (2)

 

American Redstart

American Redstart (1)

Magee_281Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler (6)

 

Canada Warblers cute back end..

Canada Warbler (1)

Canada Warbler

Magee_015Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler (4)_thumb_thumb

Palm Warbler (3)

Black and white Warbler

Black and white warbler (2)

Black and white warbler (3)

Magnolia Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler (5)Magee_011

Common Yellow throat

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White-crowned sparrow

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Northern Parula

Magee_176Philadelphia Vireo

Philidelphia vieroWhite throated sparrow

Magee_123

Baltimore Oriole~Magee parking lot

Magee_030

Magee_040

 

Some days on the boardwalk..We walk with birds beside us..

Black and White Warbler on boardwalk

Magee_265

Magnolia Warbler~close to boardwalk

Magee_180Prothonatary Warbler

Magee_204Chestnut-sided warbler on boardwalk

Magee_197

Magee_190

 

The birds that drew crowds

Mourning and Connecticut Warblers..We didn’t see a Kirtland’s last year…Maybe this year.

I have just a blurry distant photo of a Mourning warbler…

Magee_219

The Kirtland's warbler is always a crowd pleaser

 

kirtlands

 

This flycatcher was quite popular

Olive-sided Flycatcher

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“quick-three-beers”

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While all the migrating birds are hanging out waiting to cross Lake Erie..

Some local birds are busy with other things.

Pairing up..

Magee_257and tending to the kids..

magee marsh goodies_182

Its not just about woodland birds here

There are shorebirds too..

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magee marsh goodies_086

magee marsh goodies_102

These are just a sampling of the birds you might see at The Biggest Week..

Check out the list of birds here.

If you have never been..I suggest you treat yourself and attend this event!

If you have been~you know how amazing it is!

I hope to see you there!

Give me a shout if you will be coming..

I would love to meet you and share some birding time.












































Sunday, April 19, 2015

This and that…

It’s the time of year when I take daily walks into the woods behind Sickstas house to look for morels.

Its not an easy pick here…I have to do a lot of scrambling through dense wooded areas and try to dodge spider webs….occasionally bringing a few spiders home in my hair…and then there are ticks.

Luckily , I haven't seen any ticks this year.

The photo below is what the forest floor looks like…

Do you spot the morel mushrooms?

Click on the photo and make it larger..the mushrooms are there.

I usually get low to find them by crouching down, and sitting on my legs..

Its like finding a big needle in a haystack. I love the search and love eating them.

 

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I did find one nice flush of morels and keep expecting to find a second flush after the rains we have been having here..but so far no luck.

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Cleaned and ready for cooking.

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Here I am doing the daily walk around with Sicksta Dell , Jeff and Jack the dog.

I stopped to check out this casing….don’t know what critter came out of it.

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Sicksta does the walk around every day to see what's happening in her garden.

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Not much longer before the mountain laurel opens up.

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This azalea is on fire..

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The Rhododendron is also ready to pop…

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Miniature iris..

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We had a nice few days of rain and this jelly fungus came out to play…

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Oak leaves opening up to pink….

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Silver-spotted skipper

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I have been awaiting the birds who have been vacationing down south..

So far just a few dribs and drabs…one very early Indigo bunting.

Soon….very soon I expect more will be arriving.

 

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And these White-throated sparrows will head north.

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More unfurling and unfolding going on…

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This fern waking from slumber..

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Open up you fuzzy little fern..

its springtime!

P1120282Wake up wake up

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A nice flush of some fresh Turkey tail mushroom after the rains..

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Jeff and I went for a walk in Weymouth woods to look for early migrants..

We went back in time…

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Didn’t expect to see this out on the trail..

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12 carriages…out for ride…

100 or so years ago…

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Back at Sickstas..I do my own walk around everyday

Part exercise, Part bird walk, part photography, checking to see what's happening..

who's waking up…

who's arriving..

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Sometimes I get down to see what's going on from the perspective of the moss.

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Other times I look up into the trees..

A storms coming today…

I am hoping it will bring mushrooms

and other goodies…

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to Sicksta and Craigys little piece of heaven.

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Stay tuned!