Sep 5, 2006
Subject: Tuesday Birds at Magee Marsh
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 14:45:09 -0400
AM Birds seen in the marsh and on the boardwalk for September 5th, 2006
Warblers on the boardwalk
1. Tennessee - 2 (one first fall, one adult)
2. Nashville - 1 (first fall female)
3. Chestnut-sided - 2 (fall plumage females)
4. Magnolia - 7 (6 first fall; one adult)
5. Cape May - 3 - (one first fall female; one adult male & female)
6. Black-throated Blue - 7 (one first fall female, 3 adult females, 3
adult males )
7. Blackpoll - 1 (fall plumage)
8. Black & White - 3 (one male singing! & 2 females)
9. American Redstart - 6 (4 first fall males; 2 adult females)
10. Prothonotary - 1 adult male
11. Common Yellowthroat - 2 (1 adult male & female)
12. Canada - 1 adult female
Other species seen this morning
1. Wood Ducks
2. Mallards
3. Great Blue Herons
4. Great Egrets
5. Green Heron - 3
6. Black-crowned Night Heron - 1 adult up in the cattails!!!
7. Bald Eagle - 1 immature
8. Sharp-shinned Hawk - chasing warblers & other small birds!
9. Cooper's Hawk - attacked a mallard!
10. Sora - calling early off the causeway
11. Greater Yellowlegs - 1 in the marsh
12. Herring Gulls
13. Ring-billed Gulls
14. Mourning Dove
15. Downy Woodpecker - 4
16. N. Flicker - 1
17. Eastern Wood Pewee - 4 still singing!!
18. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1 at east end of boardwalk again!
19. Great-crested Flycatcher - 1
20. Warbling Vireo - 9
21. Philadelphia Vireo - 3 (nice looks up-close too!)
22. Red-eyed Vireo - 7
23. House & Carolina Wren - 1 each
24. Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1
25. Swainson's Thrush - 4
26. American Robin - 5
27. Gray Catbird - 13
28. N. Mockingbird - 1 (very rare the for Magee Marsh boardwalk)
29. Brown Thrasher - 1
30. E. Starlings - many
31. Song Sparrow - 2
32. Northern Cardinal - many
33. Red-winged Blackbirds - flocks were small today!
34. Common Grackle - flocks were small today!
35. Baltimore Oriole - 2
36. American Goldfinch - 2
37. House Finch - 3 at feeders.
38. House Sparrow - many at feeders.
Mary L. Warren
ODNR-Division of Wildlife
Naturalist
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
13229 W. SR 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0960 #31
419-898-4017 Fax
Sep 6, 2006
Subject: Wednesday birds at Magee Marsh
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 12:14:07 -0400
1. Peregrine Falcon - 8:45 am flying around both the wildlife beach and
Crane Creeks beach. Finally landed on top of dead branch near the
bathroom house.
It stayed for about 10 minutes then
flew towards Ottawa NWR along the beach.
Warblers at or near the boardwalk 9:00 am to 11:00 am
1. Nashville - 1
2. Chestnut-sided - 3
3. Magnolia - 6
4. Cape May - 2 females
5. B.T. Blue - 1 female
6. Yellow-rumped - 2
7. Blackburnian - 1 female
8. Bay-breasted - 5 (one adult male; nice!)
9. Blackpoll - 7
10. Black & White - 2
11. A. Redstart - 4 (one adult male; 1st adult male of the fall)
12. N. Waterthrush - 3
13. C. Yellowthroat - 3 (one first fall male up-close eating mayflies)
14. Wilson's - 2 (one adult male)
Other birds seen at the Marsh
1. Phila, Warbling, & R.E. Vireo's
2. Caspian, Common, & Forster's Terns
3. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - killed a katydid and flew off with it!!!
4. Sora - walking in the marsh
5. Chimney Swift, Purple Martins, & Bank Swallows
6. Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles, & Starlings in a huge flock
7. E. Wood Pewee's - singing everyday
8. Gray-cheeked & Swainson's Thrush - one each
9. Cedar Waxwings - many today
10. Brown Thrasher & several Gray Catbirds
11. Belted Kingfisher - caught a fish right in front of me!!
12. Carolina Wren - several singing today
13. Baltimore Orioles - 2 young males
14. Herring & Ring-billed Gulls
15. Great Blue + Green Herons & Great Egrets
16. Wood Ducks - males are looking better everyday!
17. Killdeer - only shorebird today and the Peregrine totally ignored
it!!
18. N. Cardinals and American Goldfinch
Mary L. Warren
ODNR-Division of Wildlife
Naturalist
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
13229 W. SR 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0960 #31
419-898-4017 Fax
08/15/2002 Archived Entry:
"Land Not Managed for Shorebirds"
The wildlife agencies responsible for managing our natural resources have been bashed several times this year on the birding listserver. This week, it's about wetlands not managed for shorebirds. more>>
From Bill Whan...
After reading Bill Jones's interesting posting of earlier today, it
occurred to me that there may be other readers of this list who might be
in a position to manage property for shorebirds during migration.
Despite what you hear from some sources, managing wetlands for
shorebirds is not something for which one needs an advanced degree, not
something that requires exhaustive ongoing research, or something we
need to leave to the professionals--after all, professionals have done a
miserable job of it in Ohio.
You can learn a lot in a hurry by studying the first 26 pages of
Douglas Helmer's Shorebird Management Manual, a booklet sold by the
Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network--I think it's $13--at
, where some other resources are
offered. One of them, the Ducks Unlimited booklet entitled "Shorebird
Migrations: Fundamentals for Land Managers in the US" is not nearly so
useful, and big DU projects in Ohio like the diking of Metzger Marsh
don't argue for their devotion to these non-game species.
Readers of this list seem to have an intense interest in our one
species of hummingbird and its foraging needs during its stay with us,
and that's great. But Ohio has more species of shorebirds than it has
even of waterfowl or warblers, and few land managers give them even a
passing thought, even though helping them out needn't interfere with the
requirements of precious game species. Jones and the few others like him
deserve special praise for bucking the trend, and doing something to
offer these wild long-range migrants something other than fields of corn
and beans or diked duck impoundments on their way through Ohio.
Bill Whan
Columbus
From another listserver member...
I thank Bill Whan, somewhat belatedly I'm afraid, for his help and encouragement over the past several weeks. And I agree with him, perhaps without opening a can of invertebrates, that nearly all of the "management" of wetlands in Ohio is done for the sake of waterfowl hunting. The Helmers's manual Bill recommends is an excellent reference for anyone thinking about creating or managing wetlands for the benefit of migrating shorebirds.
Bill Jones
Canfield
My response
Being fairly new to birding, there's no way I'm knowledgable enough on this subject to comment about it, but I'm going to anyway and at least ask a question or two or three.
What part does money play in this? Hunting and fishing require the purchase of a license each year. How much money would be available for birding projects if everyone who wanted to bird over the age of 18 had to pay a 15 dollar annual license fee?
Ducks Unlimited is powerful, correct? They have a lot of members and a lot of money to influence decision making, right? Is there a birding special interest group in Ohio that is equal to DU? Does the American Birding Association have that same kind of power? Or are there a bunch of small birding organizations that are too fragmented to get anything done as a group?
It would be hard to enforce the requirement of a birding license. Birders would purchase the license, because it would be the right thing to do, unless birders are tightwads. Based upon the clothing that a lot of birders wear in the field, the optics being carried, and the travel that birders do, it seems to me that many birders have money to give, and I'm positive a lot of birders do donate money to their favorite organizations, but is it enough? Is donating money to several small organizations better or worse than donating to one massive birding force?
If Ducks Unlimited did not exist, would these "mismanaged" wetlands still be present today, or would boat marinas, condos, and other concrete and steel structures reside in their place? It's already a tough battle to protect birding habitat from development, and with the recent decisions made by the Nature Conservancy, it could be harder.
What does a birder do? Should I focus energy and money on wetlands that already appear to be saved from development but are not managed for shorebirds? Should my attention go towards protecting existing forests, savannas, and grasslands from becoming another housing development, golf course, or mall? Or should energies be directed at land purchases with the intent of creating wetlands, grasslands, etc.? Sure, answering "yes" to all of the above would be nice, but I think each birder has to pick their battle and focus on that one item.
john
Sep 11, 2006
Subject: Monday Birds at Magee Marsh
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:01:57 -0400
Boardwalk birds till 12 noon
1. Tenn. Warbler - 1
2. N. Parula - 1
3. Chestnut-sided Warbler - 2
4. Magnolia Warbler - 2
5. Cape May Warbler - 2
6. Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1
7. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
8. Blackburnian Warbler - 1
9. Bay-breasted - 4
10. Blackpoll - 5
11. Black & White - 2
12. American Redstart - 6
13. Ovenbird - 2
14. Northern Waterthrush - 1
15. Red-eyed Vireo - 2
16. Warbling Vireo - 1
17. Wood Thrush - 1 new for the fall
18. Swainson's Thrush - 2
19. Eastern Wood Pewee - 3
20. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1
21. Least Flycatcher - 1 new for the fall ; seen by Paul
22. Eastern Phoebe - 2
Mary L. Warren
ODNR-Division of Wildlife
Naturalist
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
13229 W. SR 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0960 #31
419-898-4017 Fax
Sep 10, 2006
Subject: Magee Marsh Birds for Sunday morning
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 14:19:51 -0400
Boardwalk birds seen by John & Paul from BSBO, Chris from Magee Marsh,
Denise & her Mom from Pittsburgh, Mona & Sarah from Back to the Wild
Barb & Dan who are local birders.
1. Northern Parula - one
2. Cape May Warbler - many
3. Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1
4. Northern Waterthrush - 1
5. Tennessee Warbler - 1
6. American Redstart - several
7. Blackpoll - several
8. Bay-breasted Warbler - several
9. Ovenbird - one
10. Common Yellowthroat - 1
11. Magnolia Warbler - 3
12. Black & White Warbler - 3
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler - several
14. Warbling Vireo - heard many saw 2
15. Red-eyed Vireo - many
16. Philadelphia Vireo -1
17. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
18. Eastern Wood Pewee - several
19. Eastern Phoebe - 1
20. Black-capped Chickadee - 1
21. Bald Eagle - 3
22. Grackles, Starlings, & Red-winged Blackbirds
23. Carolina Wren - heard two
Mary L. Warren
h2 Sep 9, 2006
Subject: Saturday Birds at Magee Marsh
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 13:58:44 -0400
Warblers seen by the fall warbler birding class on the boardwalk
1. Nashville - 1
2. Tennessee - 5
3. Chestnut-sided - 4
4. Magnolia - 6
5. Cape May - 3
6. Yellow-rumped - 1
7. Bay-breasted - 3
8. Blackpoll - 5
9. Black & White - 2
10. American Redstart - 3
11. Ovenbird - 2
12. Northern Waterthrush - 2
13. Common Yellowthroat - 3
14. Wilson's Warbler - 1
Other species seen in the am
1. Red-eyed Vireo - saw many
2. Warbling Vireo - saw two
3. Philadelphia Vireo - saw one
4. Swainson's Thrush - saw two
5. Gray-cheeked Thrush - heard one
6. Rose-breasted Grosbeak - heard one
7. Baltimore Oriole - 2
8. Bald Eagle - 1 adult
9. Pied-billed Grebe - 1
10. Great Egret - 1
11. Great Blue Heron - 1
12. Chimney Swift - 1
13. Purple Martins - several
14. Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
15. Belted Kingfisher - 1
16. Downy Woodpecker - 4
17. Eastern Wood Pewee -
18. Northern Flicker - 1
19. Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (rare for boardwalk)
20. Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1 (seen by two men later in the morning.
21. Northern Cardinal - 1
Mary L. Warren
