International Migratory Bird Day - May 2004

(my May 5, 2004 message board post that excerpted from a Toledo Blade story and from a posting at BSBO.org)

Saturday, May 8 [2004]

At Magee on Saturday, there will be hundreds of bird geeks and curious observers, viewing some birds that we only see in migration, including the tiny but colorful warblers. There will good photography opportunities as many birds are low and close.

The following schedule info is from the Blade:

Saturday will mark the 10th annual International Migratory Bird Day, and a host of events are planned to celebrate the birds. Among are the following:

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge — Open house and auto tour, 14000 West State Rt. 2, Oak Harbor; call 419-898-0014.

Magee Marsh — End of causeway, wagon rides to Ottawa refuge 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., naturalist Jen Brumfield 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. lecturing on taking field notes, at Sportsmen's Migratory Bird Center; live-raptors at 11:30 a.m., by Back to the Wild Rehabilitation Center, Castalia; decoy carving with Maumee Bay Carvers; drawing for T-shirts and free bird tattoos; Magee staff on hand at Bird Trail boardwalk; bird-banding at Bird Trail with Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; optics tent, food tent by Lake Erie Waterfowlers; call Magee, 419-898-0960.

Also at Magee, Tom Bartlett's Big Sit, to benefit BSBO education programs. Bartlett stays in one place — a 17-foot circle— near the Bird Trail, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., and counts every bird species he sees for pledges. He averages 90 species a year and has seen 167 different species in a decade. For pledge information call BSBO, 419-898-4070.

Maumee Bay State Park - Milton B. Trautman Nature Center, day-long crafts for kids; bird-banding demonstration, 8 a.m. to noon; slide show on migration, noon, hike on the boardwalk, 4 p.m.; call the center, 419-836-9117.

During the month of May, if you spend some time on the boardwalk at Magee, you will easily see and/or hear several dozen different species of birds.

Many songbirds migrate at night, and they make their biggest movements on southerly winds. They hit the lakeshore, rest and refuel before making the water crossing.

#park - #nature - #bird - #event - #festival