Magee birding 13-May-2006

My May 13 sightings later.

TNA posting:

---- start ----

May 13th, 2006 International Migratory Bird Day. As of 12:30 pm

Warblers on or near the boardwalk.
1. Golden-winged
2. Kentucky
3. Mourning
4. Orange-crowned
5. Hooded
6.Tennessee
7. Cape May
8. Canada
9. Blackburnian
10. Wilson's
11. B.T. Green
12. B.T. Blue
13. N. Parula
14. Nashville
15. Bay-breasted
16. Ovenbird
17. Yellow
18. Yellow-rumped
19. C. Yellowthroat
20. Palm
21. N. Waterthrush
22. Chestnut-sided
23. Black & White
24. Magnolia
25. Worm-eating - seen last evening!!

Vireo's
1. Red-eyed
2. Blue-headed
3. Philadelphia
4. Warbling

Flycatchers
1. E.W. Pewee
2. Least
3. Great-crested

Thrushes
1. A. Robin
2. Veery
3. Wood
4. Swainson's

Rails
1. KING - seen along marsh.
2. Sora -1 seen.

Egrets & Herons
1. Snowy Egret - 1 near entrance of the park.
2. Great Egret
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Green Heron

Grebes, Ducks, Geese, & Swans
1. Pied-billed Grebe - 2
2. Blue-winged Teal - several pairs
3. Wood Ducks
4. Mallard -1
5. Mute Swans - 2

Sparrows
1. Lincoln's
2. Song

3. Swamp
4. White-throated
5. White-crowned

Swallows
1. Tree
2. Barn
3. Cliff - at the beach.

Shorebirds & Cranes
1. Killdeer
2. Spotted Sandpiper
3. Sandhill Cranes

Eagles
1.Bald Eagle

Tanagers, Orioles, Grosbeaks, Buntings
1. Scarlet Tanager
2. Baltimore Oriole
3. Rose-breasted
4. Indigo Bunting

Gnatcatchers
1.Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Mimics
1. Gray Catbird

Wrens
1. House
2. Carolina

Blackbirds
1. Red-winged
2. C. Grackles

---- end ----

Excerpts from another TNA posting:

---- start ----

Just returned from the Magee Marsh, ONWR and Metzger Marsh this weekend. Saturday was incredible with the warblers so close that you could almost reach out and touch them.

An observation about the birders that we (my wife, 11 year old daughter and I) encountered. They were some of the friendliest birders that we have ever encountered. Instead of adults cutting in front of my daughter so that they could see the bird, as has happened at other migration spots, they allowed her to get a better view and even guided her closer. That made a big impression on all of us. So much so that we've decided to go back next year.

---- end ----

The parking lot by the boardwalk at 6:00 a.m.

Looking in the same direction a little later in the morning.

Uber birder Tom Bartlett working the "big sit" near the west entrance at the boardwalk. He started at 5:00 a.m. The "sit" ended at 5:00 p.m. By 10:40 a.m., Tom observed 83 species of birds. By mid-afternoon, he was around 87 species. I went to watch the Kentucky Warbler and do some other birding on the boardwalk, so I don't know what his final count was. Last year, his count, I think, was 112 species, which was the highest in the 14 or so years he has done the "big sit."

While "bird dogging" birds for Tom, we heard the Black-capped Chickadee sing. It was the first time that bird has been observed in all the years he has done the big sit.

It was a gray, overcast, wet day, but the crowds were still good. Also at the boardwalk, Kenn Kauffman, Don and Lillian Stokes, and Jon Dunn.