Magee Marsh Field Report and Photos 2026-05-15

Slow day compared to Wednesday

Friday is a slow bird day - and I feel like I'm letting Jackie down. Jackie is my sister-in-law and bird photography partner-in-crime, who had to work all week while I was at the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB). She took Friday off because the Birdcast had forecasted peak migration days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That changed as the week went on, shifting the prime days to Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Did we let that stop us? No, of course not. We were up first thing in the morning to drive to Magee Marsh.

Prothonotary Nesting

In spite of the slow day, I still got some great individual photos, including a Prothonotary Warbler that was nesting in the boardwalk trail railing. I had no idea, and I was leaning on the rail, trying to spot a far-off red headed woodpecker, when the Prothonotary sticks its head out, hops onto the railing right under my elbow, and stares me down. Then it flies to a bunch of trees along the boardwalk, checking out the growing crowd of birders, and making sure we all have good views. (Prothonotary Warblers are showoffs - but more on that tomorrow).

Also, this is a "slow" day compared to Wednesday's warbler blowout. We still saw a bunch of warblers - especially Magnolia warblers and American Restarts - but some of the common ones from a few days ago (Yellow-Rumped, Palm, Bay-Breasted) are nowhere to be seen.

Nemesis Bird is still Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's warbler is still my nemesis- I'm told it's there a few times, and I catch flashes, but I don't get a good enough view to say I've seen it, let alone get it in my viewfinder. With its yellow body and black cap, it should be obvious - but it prefers to stay low, in the shadows of bushes, and seems even more twitchy than other warblers.

Like I said, slow day...

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (Female), Magee Marsh, Ohio

Still, not many birds, we walk large sections of the boardwalk and Goose Haven trail without seeing anything. (Except yellow warblers. They really should rename Goose Haven trail to Yellow Warbler trail - they're all along the bushes, singing their hearts out, and getting into tumbling airborne dogfights if another Yellow dares enter their territory.)

Even my reliable spot between the east parking lot and overflow lot is deserted. There's a lone female Red-breasted Grosbeak, patiently eating leaves while we take pictures - but that's the only bird there.

...until the Common Nighthawk sleeping over the Estuary trail

The highlight (and life bird) of the day was a Common Nighthawk. After walking the length of Goose Haven trail, we decide to continue on the Estuary trail for a little bit, hoping to see something. (Anything, really). As we start down, a slow trickle of people coming the other way say "Have you seen the Nighthawk? It's been sleeping in the cottonwood tree that sticks out over the trail all morning." We find a group of people staring at the tree, but I cannot find the bird, because of how well it blended into the wood. Everyone tries to help me: "See the longest branch sticking out over the trail? Follow the branch in until you get to the fork. See that bump on the wood just past the fork? That's the Nighthawk." And there it was! I never would have found it without help, and have no idea how anyone found it in the first place.

While we were there taking pictures, it opened its eyes, stood up, and waddled the length of the branch before settling closer to the tree trunk. I held my shutter button down the whole way, and got some shots that weren't just "sleeping bump on a branch." What a way to get a life bird!

All that said, tomorrow (Saturday) is supposed to be the big migration day, so we're running this all back again tomorrow.

Warblers

American Redstart
Black-and-White
Black-Throated Green
Blackburnian
Chestnut-Sided
Prothonotary
Yellow

(Plus the Wilson's Warbler I was told about, but couldn't get a good picture of. Again.)

Photo 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).