I spent a Saturday at the Headlands Birding Festival in Mentor, Ohio, held (primarily) at the Mentor Headlands state park, with bird walks all over nearby parks...
...and the best part was the morning session I signed up for, kayaking the Mentor Marsh.
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Kayaking Mentor Marsh
I've never done bird photography from a kayak, and was nervous about having thousands of dollars of camera equipment out on the water. However, one of the other participants at the Biggest Week in American Birding was telling me how much he enjoyed bird photography from his kayak, so I wanted to give it a try.
As I said, taking thousands of dollars of camera equipment out in a kayak is scary. I took my Sony A7R6 with the 400-800/6.3-8 lens, and bought a wet bag to store it in while I got in and out of the kayak.
It was good to be careful (especially getting in and out of the kayak), but once I was in the kayak everything was fine. The water of the marsh is perfectly calm (not like the open water in Lake Erie I occasionally kayaking in.) The only problem was keeping the kayak stopped when I wanted to take pictures - the tiniest bit of momentum from paddling kept me coasting, right past the place I was trying to photograph.
The other problem was the gray, sprinkling day - and my nemesis for this trip, the Marsh Wren. There were Marsh Wrens everywhere, calling out in the reeds next to the water. They're just so quick, though - I'd hear them calling out, then see some reeds moving, and a wren would flash out from cover. Before I could even raise my camera it would dive back into the reeds, and start singing again. Argh! After a lot of failed attempts I finally got a wren that was curious enough to come back more than once, and got a picture.
Headlands Dunes Nature Preserve
After the morning of kayaking, I went to the festival grounds, in the far parking lot of Headlands State Park, right next to the Headlands Dunes nature preserve. I had some great food truck tacos, then walked the tree-lined trail running between the dunes and Fairport Harbor. I found out why they hold the festival at this time - it's Fall Warbler migration, and Monarch Butterfly migration too. There were Monarchs everywhere, feeding on the white Late Boneset flowers.
The warblers were not quite as colorful as they are in the summer, but they were still out in force. My favorite photo of the day, though, was an Eastern Phoebe - it had just finished eating a yellowjacket, and was relaxing in a tree not far from the trail.
Photo gallery
Visit headlands state park!
If you want a good day out birding, visit Headlands State Park and Mentor Marsh in Mentor, Ohio, especially during the Headlands Birding Festival. It's worth the trip!
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