Magee Marsh Field Report and Photos Tuesday 2026-05-05

My goal this year is to get up to Magee Marsh once a week for the entire spring migration. Here are my notes from this visit.

Field Notes

Cloudy, colder, and windy (60°F with 20mph winds) and a threat of rain later. I was so disappointed yesterday that I made back-to-back trips (and hoped the weather would hold out - and it did.)

What a difference a day makes! There were birds everywhere - migration feels like it's finally here. My first bird picture of the day was a Black-and-White Warbler, a year bird for me. Gray Catbirds, Warbling Vireos, Yellow, Yellow-Rumped and Palm Warblers, and White-Throated Sparrows are everywhere.

Black-Throated Green Warbler, Magee Marsh Ohio — Black-Throated Green Warbler

I got some great photos, but today was all about near misses. I saw a Northern Parula go zipping by right in front of me - and then couldn't find him, even though a group of us could hear him calling. An American Redstart was hopping around in the bushes - I was able to point it out to people in the growing crowd, but I couldn't get a shot with all the branches and leaves, and when it hopped into the clear (once) I couldn't grab focus before it zipped away.

But - the Big One That Got Away was at the end of the day. I came across a guy at a dead-end clearing on a trail near the lake, focused the bushes. There was a zippy, buzzy call that kept repeating, so I checked on Merlin, and saw "Golden-Winged Warbler" light up (!!! ) I waited behind the guy, and then he got impatient and dove into the bushes to hunt down the Golden-Wing. Going off-trail is a little too much for me, and the calls stopped. I hope he got his bird, but I'm a little disappointed in my fellow birders.

That said, most of my fellow birders are a great bunch A group of us had a great time at the West Tower branch of the boardwalk, where I got a picture of the Black-Throated Green above, and my first Black-Throated Blue picture ever (!). Then, on a tip, a small group of us went to the trail leading to the Estuary trail, and found a Chestnut-Sided Warbler there - another Year bird for me.

Warblers

American Redstart
Black-and-white
Black-throated Blue
Black-throated Green
Chestnut-sided
Common Yellowthroat
Nashville
Northern Waterthrush
Palm
Pine
Protonotary
Yellow
Yellow-Rumped (Lots)
(Plus Northern Parula and Golden-Winged Warblers that I didn't actually see, but was told all about...)

Pictures Gallery

Gear

I was asked in an email, so, here's my gear list:

Sony A1 ii with battery grip
Sony 400-800mm f/6.8-8 G lens (almost always at 800mm)
Blackrapid Sport X strap
Shimoda Explore v2 35L with Large DSLR Core Unit v3 (one of the few core units that will fit the 400-800)
I have the A1 ii set for 1/2000 shutter, f/8, Auto-ISO, with a tracking expanded spot and bird subject detection. Pre-capture is set for 0.5 seconds when I half-press the shutter, and shooting is electronic shutter set to 30fps. The 400-800 is always at 800 (unless a bird gets so close that I can't focus on it at 800).