Pic of the Day

Black-throated Blue Warbler, female; Setophaga caerulescens: Magee Marsh, Ohio

     This female Black-throated Blue Warbler was photographed from the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, Ohio last spring.  Magee is one of my favorite locations to photograph warblers and other neotropical migrant.  Though, it is not even Thanksgiving I am looking forward to spring and the wonderful birds that will once again wing north.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4
1/250 second @ f/7.1

Pic of the Day

Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerine; Magee Marsh Bird Center, Ohio

     I just finished watching a great DVD called, Watching Sparrows, by Michael Male and Judy Fieth.  Can't wait to get out and photograph some more sparrows.  They are spectacular birds.  Here is a Chipping Sparrow from Magee Marsh.  I photographed this bird from the parking lot at the Magee Marsh Bird Center.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 1/250 second @ f/7.1; using my van as a blind

Pic of the Day

     Tree Swallows – Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Ohio:  At the end of my first day at Magee Marsh the light cloud cover of the day began to thicken, thunder rumbled and a light rain began to fall.  I left the Magee Marsh boardwalk about 5 PM, and by the time I drove out of the paring lot the rain began to fall.  With the rain falling and light levels low, I decided to explore the surrounding area just to see what other opportunities might be available the next morning.

     My first stop was the Ottawa NWR, which lays adjacent to Magee Marsh.  The road to the visitor’s center was lined with bluebird boxes that were spaced about 300 feet apart.  Instead of Bluebirds, each of the boxes were occupied by a pair of Tree Swallows.  In front of one nest box was a small tree that provided a perfect perch for the attending swallows.

    Using my van as a blind I parked about twenty feet away from the perch and began shooting photos of the female.  Within a few minutes of shooting the male flew-in and began copulating with the female while  on the wing.  Shutter speeds were slow, but the slow speed added motion blur, which in turn added movement and action to the image.  

    When I left Magee Marsh that evening I had thought the days shooting was over.  I had no idea that another great opportunity would present itself to me.  Even though the light was quickly diminishing, shutter speeds were slow, and a light rain fell, the final images of the day were the highlights.  Shooting seldom seen behavior is exciting, especially when unexpected.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/160sec. @ f7.1

Pic of the Day

     Blackpoll Warbler – Magee Marsh, Ohio:  During my first day at Magee Marsh I saw numerous Blackpoll Warblers.  In fact, the most I had ever seen in one day.  This Blackpoll was one of three males and two females I saw at one time while on the Magee Marsh boardwalk.  I was following this male Blackpoll with my 500mm lens as it bounded from limb to limb.  Eventually it moved to a limb and paused for a fraction of a second.  The view was unobstructed, and the auto-focus snapped the image into focus.  I got this one and only shot before the Blackpoll slipped back in the leaf cover. 

     The Blackpoll is a overland spring migrant along the eastern and central flyways, but during fall migration the Blackpoll strikes out over the open ocean as it heads south to its South American wintering ground.
     This was the first time I had the opportunity to photograph this beautifully patterned warbler.                                                                     

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4, 1/160sec. @ f7.1

Pic of the Day

     Chestnut-sided Warbler – Magee Marsh, Ohio:  On my third day at Magee Marsh the clouds had not lifted and the rain was steady most of the day.  Though light, the rain required that I make a rain cover for my camera and lens to continue shooting.  Thanks to dental floss and a plastic window shade from my van   I was able to put together the make shift rain cover and hit the marsh a shooting. 

     The northerly winds and rain kept the birds low but they were still difficult to shoot.  Slow shutter speeds and narrow depth-of-field made sharp images few and far between.  Only when the birds paused while foraging was it possible to get a sharp image.  This Chestnut-sided Warbler paused while searching for insects under the leaf cover.   During the pause I shot the image.

     To obtain an acceptable image size, I used a 300mm lens with a 1.4 extender with 30mm of extension tubes.  Extension tubes allow a lens to focus within its minimum focus distance, thus producing a larger image size.  This bird was less than 10 feet from me when I shot the photo. 

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 with 1.4 extender and 30mm of extension tubes, 1/100sec. @ f4.5

Pic of the Day

     Yellow-rumped Warbler -- Magee Marsh, Ohio:  On my second day at Magee Marsh I awoke to heavy rain.  The rain fell all morning, buy began to slack about noon.  I arrived at Magee Marsh just as the rain turned into a light drizzle.  The rain and winds from the north-northeast had held the birds from flying north over Lake Erie.  The migrants that had been trapped on the south shore of Lake Erie were staying low in the brambles.  

     This female, Yellow-rumped Warbler was found in a mixed flock of warblers that was moving within a low row of willows.  Occasionally the birds within the willow would find an open space that allowed me to shoot an image or two before disappearing into the jumble of branches.

Shooting was difficult as the light was low, a slight drizzle fell most of the day, and the wind was ferocious.  But, braving the elements did pay off with a few good shots.  This is just one.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, 1/50sec @ f5.6, ISO 250

Recently Published Work

    My latest Great Birding Escape column has been published in the Winter, 2011 Issue of Living Bird Magazine.  The GBE is on Shawnee Statel Forest in southern Ohio.  When the issue is made available on line, I will post a link so you may access it through the Living Bird website.  If you would like to subscribe to Living Bird go to: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1173

Pic of the Day

    Cape May Warbler -- Magee Marsh, Ohio:  As winter waxes and the days grow colder here in north Alabama, I look forward to spring.  It is this time of year that I start dreaming of neo-tropical migrants and start planning trips to photograph them.  I have posted a number of images taken at Point Pelee National Park, Canada,  a well-known location to see and photograph spring migrants.  I have also mentioned in a previous post how the Pelee peninsula acts as a migrant magnet for those exhausted birds that have been pushed north by weather fronts.  The migrants seem to fall out of the sky when they see Point Pelee.

     Perhaps a lesser known migrant trap is Magee Marsh in Ohio.  Magee Marsh is on the south side of Lake Erie directly south of Point Pelee.  Magee is a location that many migrants stop and refuel before heading across the lake.  Like Pelee, Magee Marsh is a wonderful place to see and photograph north bound migrants.

     This Cape May Warbler was photographed in mid May as a wave of mixed warblers passed through Magee Marsh.  The morning I photographed this bird I also photographed a dozen other warbler species.  Warbler fall-outs are an amazing event to encounter as warblers and other migrants seem to be everywhere.   I have often seen trees and bushes with a half dozen different species of warblers at one time.  

     If you have not experienced such an event, you can.  Plan a bird watching, or better yet, a bird photography trip to Magee Marsh or Point Pelee.  Plan on a week or ten day trip between the second and fourth week of May.   You might get lucky and find yourself in the midst of a Warbler fallout.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO 200