Magee Marsh Field Report and Photos 2026-05-11 (BWIAB 2026)

AKA The Day of the Saw-Whet Owl

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Magee Marsh in the morning - Slow
BWIAB conference
Back to Magee Marsh for the evening
Warblers
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Magee Marsh Field Reports for 2026

Magee Marsh in the morning - Slow

My first day at the Biggest Week In American Birding 2026 festival (BWIAB) was Monday, May 11. It was a slow morning, bird-wise. Not the boardwalk - the birding community was out in force. It's fun looking at all the license plates from all over the country. (The number of bird puns in the license plate numbers was impressive.) The only thing missing was the wave of warblers I was hoping for.

Even though it was slow, there were still some good birds to be found.

A Saw-Whet Owl was five feet from the boardwalk, hidden in a tree, and getting mobbed - not by blackbirds or crows, but by birders. There was a massive traffic jam as people tried to get the right angle to see it and take a picture. I waited in line, and got a shot of the eyes staring back at me through the leaves. I did see a black-and-white warbler, and got a belly shot of a Cape May warbler (life bird!). Lots of Warbling Vireos, as well as a few Yellow, Yellow-Rumped, and Palm Warblers.

I didn't make it to Goose Haven trail - I walked the boardwalk, then went to the trail between the east end of the parking lot and the overflow lot. I may be complaining about a slow morning, but there were so many different birds here that I got stuck until I had to leave for the conference. Lots of Northern Parulas, Warbling Vireos, and two photo life birds for me - a Yellow-Throated Vireo and Blue-Headed Vireo. There were reports of Golden-Winged and Blue-Winged Warblers, but none showed up for us while I was there. (Foreshadowing.)

BWIAB conference

I tried to visit the Optics Tent at the Magee Marsh Visitor Center before lunch, to say hi to the Sony camera reps and my friends at Pixel Connection. But I couldn't find any parking - the lots were overflowing, all the flat grassy surfaces had a car on them, and a line of cars was waiting for people to leave so they could take their spot.

In the afternoon I went to the Maumee Bay Lodge, the conference center for the BWIAB festival. I was there for Light, Shadow, Background, a photo workshop by Kevin Loughlin of Wildside Nature Tours. Unfortunately, I was nodding off, desperately trying to pay attention (or even keep my eyes open). It wasn't the presentation (Kevin was great) - I needed a nap after my 4:50AM wakeup. I got some caffeine during the break, and it perked me up enough that I could focus on the talk. (I need to pack coffee-in-a-can for future birding trips - this is the second time I nearly fell asleep in the afternoon after an early start and full morning of bird photography.)

Next I went to see the vendors at the Birder's Marketplace to pick up some swag. I got a BWIAB T-Shirt, picked up the Ohio Lake Erie Birding Trail guide, and bought some new sun hoodies from Raven Birding Apparel. I checked out a few of the other vendors, and had a great talk with Erik Bruhnke from Victor Emanuel Nature Tours - he leads a Minnesota north woods bird tour in the winter - someday!

Back to Magee Marsh for the evening

For the early evening I went back to Magee to do my Goose Haven trail walk. The birds were still slow, other than the usual lineup of Yellow Warblers in the bushes. (So many Yellow Warblers, all fighting over territory. I got a great shot of one of the winners, who was resting after his fight right next to the trail.) After Goose Haven, I hung out at West Tower on the boardwalk (the boardwalk was a lot less crowded in the evening.) I called it a day and went to my hotel to download my memory cards and start culling. My 30fps Sony A1 ii takes a LOT of pictures...as I would find out the next day. (More foreshadowing.)