Magee Marsh, if anything, is underrated. Simply put, it rocked my world. The birds, the crowds, and the general atmosphere were unlike anything I've ever encountered in the birding world. The birds are amazing and the crowds of birders don't detract from the ambience. Indeed, the combination of thousands of warblers and thousands of birders creates a completely unique experience that must be seen to be believed. As Iain Campbell said, if you're anywhere else on the planet during May, you're in the wrong place.
Seeing as how (roughly) billions of bird photos are taken over the course of May at Magee Marsh (for some good ones, look at Sam Woods' many posts from Magee here), I'm posting more interesting photos: the crowds. One of the great things about Magee is that when something particularly interesting is found, you hear about it. Then again, so does everybody else, but if all goes well (as it did in all the cases below), everyone gets to see the bird.
The biggest crowds of the spring were for the Mothers' Day Golden-winged Warbler. Suffice it to say, a lot of people saw that bird. In the green hat and gray jacket in the bottom-middle of the picture is my colleage Sam Woods, who also saw the one Golden-winged Warbler in history that was seen by more people--the only one ever seen in England.
Yes, they are looking at a bird. A Kentucky Warbler, no less. There is about two feet of land between the boardwalk, where everyone is standing, and a pond, and the warbler was walking around on the ground on that narrow strip of dirt and willows.
A popular bird later in the season was a female Cerulean Warbler that proved faithful to one particular area of the boardwalk (you'd never know it, but this is the same spot in the Kentucky Warbler-watching picture above). I hope to see you out there next spring!
1 comment:
Pictures of people! What will you do to startle us next?
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