Magee Marsh, OH. 22 - 23 May 2011

I've returned to Magee where the morning of the 22 May brought a really big push of migrants. 2 Black-billed Cuckoos were in the parking lot and large flocks of Blue Jays (moving east) and Cedar Waxwings (moving west) were going over. The north-east corner of the parking lot (now officially my 'patch' as I seem to be the only person that goes there) was good again, with a Mourning Warbler, female Purple Finch, Philadelphia Vireo and 3 Wilson's Warblers. There were lots of Empids in the wood today. Lots of Least Flycatchers, quite a few 'Trails' and the largest number of Yellow-bellieds that I'd seen in one day here.
After lunch I decided to explore and look for some good habitat next to the lake. Lakeway Drive runs parallel with Lake Erie and then finishes at the marina, so this seemed a good place to look - I wasn't disappointed. My only Orange-crowned Warbler of the trip was feeding in trees right next to the shore line, whilst in a small wood at the junction of Lakeway and Waterway Drive there was a female Hooded Warbler plus a pair of Black-billed Cuckoos. At the marina end of Lakeway was a Red-headed Woodpecker, Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbirds.
Along Park Colony rd (runs south from Lakeway) there were some waders of which Marbled Godwit and Pec Sand were the pick.
The day ended off nicely with a female Hooded Merganser at the Ottowa-Lucas Rd plus 2 Cattle Egrets on the south side of the road between the turnings for Ottowa and Magee.

The morning of 23 May was my final morning. The number of birds had fallen considerably on the previous days birding. An Eastern Towhee was a new bird for the trip, but the best location was the north-east section of the parking lot which had 2 male Mourning Warblers and a female Blackburnian.

Photos: Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler (2), Blackburnian Warbler, Swainsons's Thursh, Baltimore Oriole, Black-billed Cuckoo, Dunlin (2), Orange-crowned Warbler, Canada Warbler (2), Mourning Warbler (3), Yellow Warbler, Purple Finch (2), Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Finally, the Lucas-Ottowa Road had Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sand, 10 Semi-p Plovers, 5 Semi-p Sands and about 100 Dunlin.