The Biggest Week, part I
Our recent trip to Northwestern Ohio was a magical thing
Northwestern Ohio along Lake Erie during spring migration is a magical place. Last week we visited the area referred to as “The Warbler Capital of the World” for the second time. Every year for fifteen years now, the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, along with other sponsors, hosts what they call The Biggest Week in American Birding, or The Biggest Week for short. This part of Ohio is a hotspot for migrating birds because it is a vital stopover point as they journey north to their breeding grounds. Warblers, especially (because of their petite size), need to refuel and rest before continuing their migration across the lake, and so they are present in large concentrations in the area for a time. We traveled the 270 miles north in hopes of encountering more and more varied warbler experiences than we have had at home here in West Virginia. We were not disappointed.
To listen to this post (and a train, and Bonnie snoring in the background):
Last night and this morning, I have gone through over six hundred photographs I took on our last day there. (I don’t know why I started with the last photo card, instead of the first. I still have two more to go through. I think it was that yellow-breasted chat I shot. I wanted to see if any of those pictures turned out. They didn’t. The guy was too far away. Phoo. I might share them anyway.) It takes me forever to sort and edit my photos. Jeff tells me it’s because I want to save every picture—even if it’s not in complete focus. It’s true, as I troll through the images, I remember each bird and celebrate its unique characteristics. Sometimes, it’s a blurry image, but the bird is holding a bit of insect in its mouth, or grasping materials for nest-building. These little details tug at my heartstrings and I cannot let the image go. I am relatively new to this photography thing, and perhaps my eye is not so discerning, but this is what experience is for.
We arrived at the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center on Wednesday last week, where we promptly registered our presence and collected our itinerary and name tags. There were vendors throughout the lodge concourse, selling things from books and optics to original artwork, guided field experiences, and so much more. We wandered from booth to booth for a time, before slipping out the door for a view of Lake Erie. As soon as we stepped outside, we heard the “sweet-sweet-I’m-so-sweet” song of a yellow warbler. They were all over in the trees of the lodge property, making us smile and whetting our appetite for all that was to come. We snapped a selfie in front of the lake and walked around the grounds to return to our car. Along the way, we spotted a beautiful male Baltimore oriole, a Tennessee warbler, and so many purple martins. The air was thick with birdsong. I looked at Jeff. He looked at me. And despite our road weariness, we knew we needed to get out our cameras and head to the boardwalk that winds its way through the wetlands beside the lodge.
And that is just what we did.
We knew the precise patch of boardwalk we wanted to visit from our last time at Maumee. But as we made our way to that rich warbler habitat, we couldn’t help snapping photos of a red-headed woodpecker, gorgeous red-winged blackbirds, tree swallows, and other cuties we encountered along the way. There was a great blue heron standing sentinel by the nature center. Several great egrets were scattered about the marsh. My head was swimming from the embarrassment of riches before us.
When we arrived at our favorite spot on the walk, the yellow warblers were there to greet us. As was a blackpoll, a blue-gray gnatcatcher, and more Baltimore orioles. We were thrilled to catch a female yellow warbler busily building her nest. (As I mentioned, I haven’t made it to those pictures yet but hope to share when I do.)
And that was only the first day, the first couple of hours, the very rim of our visit to Northwestern Ohio. I hope I don’t bore you in the coming days as I struggle to find words for how wonder-full our time there was. There were hard parts too, but the loveliness of standing under a canopy of birdsong far outweighed any struggles we encountered (I will share some of those too.)
If you are in love with the birds the way I am, I highly recommend The Biggest Week! If you have any questions about the festival or the area, please ask in the comments, and while I am no expert on the area by any means, I will try to answer based on our experience. I plan on sharing more about our trip in future posts.
In the meantime, now that we are back home, I find my eye wandering to every leaf shiver, every flash of yellow, every wing-flutter on the periphery of my vision. To be fair, I have always been this way, but our time in The Warbler Capital of the World has filled my eyes and my heart, fine-tuning my attention for these subtle suggestions of a feathery presence.
Just call me birdbrain. I don’t mind at all.
The Maumee watershed is my home country! I was born in the Great Black Swamp, though today it looks like tidy cornfields. I love your warbler photos! Did not learn to bird until much later in life. And birding didn’t become a thing in that area until even later. So now all the exciting bird reports from Lake Erie fill me with joy. I’m so glad so many people these days are devoted to birds and wetlands and helping all of them thrive.
So lovely! Your love for birds is contagious!!