I recently attended the second annual ?Biggest Week in American Birding?, hosted by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), located just inshore of Lake Erie, about 20 miles east of Toledo Ohio. The centerpiece here is Magee Marsh, a spot which has been declared the best warbler watching opportunity in North America. My experience there can only be described as astounding. In 5 full days of birding I saw 29 warbler species overall, 21 every day, and 26 on a day when a big push came in and the birds were proverbially ?dripping from the trees?. But abundance and numbers tell only a small part of the story. What really makes the boardwalk special is that the birds seem oblivious to the presence of the hordes of birders in their midst. Each day I saw hundreds of birds within 25', low down, in trees often small and scarcely leafed out. Many, many times I had a bird nonchalantly gleaning within 5'. This was my first experience with the Eastern
warblers and I must say that the field guides only begin to portray their stunning beauty and elaborate coloration. The boardwalk is also a good place to study and compare 5 Spotted Thrush species and 5 Vireo species. With so many birders looking, cryptic Eastern Screech Owl, American Woodcock, and Whip-poor-will were found each day.

The boardwalk is not the only show in the area. Within 5 miles there is very diverse habitat: farmland reminiscent of Fir Island, Lake Erie and its shoreline, extensive marshland, and vast diked water impoundments of the Ottawa NWR. For the week I had 162 species. Shorebirding was sparse and the 11 species I saw are all regular here. Some birds I particularly enjoyed were Black Tern, Chimney Swift, Black and Yellow billed Cuckoo, Scarlet Tanager, Field Sparrow, White Throated Sparrow (hundreds), Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore Oriole, and Bobolink.

For tho who would like more information, I plan to do a more extensive write-up of the festival (I registered but operated only on the fringes), logistics, list of warblers from most common to least, weather, and a few birding luminaries I encountered. Email me directly if you?d like to receive it.
You can also Google Bird Swamp Bird Observatory for much information.

Mitch Blanton
Bellingham, Wa
mitchblanton at yahoo.com