Friday 6 June 2014

Michigan Warblers 17th May 2014

We visited Tawas Point State Park first thing in the morning. The Tawas Point Birding Festival was on at the same time so there were more than normal numbers of birders at the park but nothing like the numbers Magee gets during the Biggest Week. The pathways are much wider and more numerous so there were no jams or scrums. As we were getting our gear out of the van in the car park it quickly became apparent that a huge fall of migrants had occurred. Trees immediately adjacent to our van were hopping with migrants. It probably took an hour or two to make it out of the car park with the amount of stuff on show. Compared to Magee Marsh most of the deciduous trees in Michigan had yet to come into leaf so a lot of migrants kept to conifers here. Viewing and photography opportunities were even possibly better at Tawas compared to Magee as the site was much more open with birds on show for prolonged periods. The fall of migrants may not be an every day occurrence so it may be slightly hit or miss thing. Magee seems to be fairly reliable for good numbers of species and individuals. Another difference was the make-up of the selection of migrants. Nashville Warbler was quite a scarce bird during our time in Ohio but here they were probably the commonest warbler. Orange-crowned Warbler was also a common species here, we hadn't seen any in Ohio. We had our last new warbler of the trip here also, a gorgeous looking male Golden-winged Warbler. This was to be warbler species number thirty-one of the tour. We all wished we could have spent more time here but we had to go back to the Hotel for check-out at 12 o'clock and start the journey back down South.

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Female Cape May Warbler

Female Northern Parula

Male Northern Parula

Male Northern Parula

Male Northern Parula

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler

Male Nashville Warbler

Male Nashville Warbler

Male Nashville Warbler

Male Nashville Warbler
Male Yellow Warbler

Male Yellow Warbler


Orange-crowned Warbler

Female Black-and-white Warbler

Female Black-and-white Warbler
Male American Redstart

Male American Redstart


Male American Redstart
Male Golden-winged Warbler

Male Golden-winged Warbler

Male Golden-winged Warbler

Male Golden-winged Warbler

Lighthouse at Tawas Point

Track way at Tawas Point
 
Something you don't see everyday in Ireland.



 

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