Magee Marsh Field Report and Photos 2026-05-04

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

Monday, May 4, (May the fourth be with you...)

Finally got some good weather (70°F and Sunny) but a slow day for birds. But not for birders! Now that it's May, people are here in force. After the last few weeks of solitude, it was a shock to have traffic jams on the boardwalk again. And this is just the warmup - next week is the peak migration, and The Biggest Week In American Birding festival.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Magee Marsh Ohio — Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

In spite of all the birders to add extra sets of eyes, I actually saw less warblers than last week, and not many more total birds. It really doesn't feel like migration has kicked in yet.

Grey Catbirds are showing up, as are Warbling Vireos, and the Yellow Warblers are here in force - four of them were fighting over territory in a running battle along the Goose Haven Trail. (Goose Haven Trail is the trail that runs behind the boardwalk - I've been calling it the Estuary trail. Goose Haven and Estuary connect, but they're separate trails.)

I saw a couple of lonely Yellow-rumps - where are they all? I'm usually sick of them, now I'm desperate to see them. I did get a good shot of a Northern Waterthrush at the West Tower.

I'm going back tomorrow (Tuesday) because today was so slow.