Tours of The Biggest Week

This is part 2 of a planned multi-part series about our trip to Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding. Part 1 talked about some general impressions and highlights. Today, I will share our experiences from the guided tours we took. 

We took advantage of a few types of guided tours. For some, you meet the guides at the location. Tours are generally 20 people plus two guides and last a couple of hours. We also took a couple of bus tours where you meet at the festival headquarters and they provide transportation. This is limited to about 10 people plus two guides and last half or the full day. These are typically further away and might include multiple stops. We chose two of each, and a night walk, although as I said in the previous post, we could have been just as happy with less scheduled time. 

We had guides from all over the country and even one from Canada. Many are professional guides or at least guide at many festivals throughout the year. All of the guides we met were really friendly and knowledgeable about birds. I already talked in the last post about how Patrick went above and beyond in helping us find the rare Kirkland's warbler.  

The first walk of a festival is always interesting and exciting. This was our first time in Northeast Ohio so there was a lot to get used to, but at least, most of the birds are familiar. As the group is still getting oriented, the tour starts off great with a singing Baltimore Oriole. Patrick is our guide and he has a great ear, often picking up distant calls that the rest of us struggle to hear. Even the guides are new to the area, and we actually get a little lost, but it works out because we end up at a small pond with dozens of swallows zooming back and forth feeding on the wing. My wife and I are on the hunt for a bank swallow, a new bird for us, so we study each passing bird with a hopeful eye. Guides are always looking to help people see new birds so they join us in the hunt. But to no avail.  

On the crest of a hill we walk under a small group of trees with several warbler and vireo species flitting about, keeping us busy for a half an hour in just that one spot. Every time the group would hint at moving on, someone calls out a new species. We see 59 species in three hours. Great start to the week.

Grey catbird

Downy woodpecker taking a step

Baltimore oriole taking flight

The most exciting tour we did was the Leader's Choice. This half-day bus tour has the leaders pick where you go that morning, based on the latest reports of sightings. We got extra lucky with the tour as it was scheduled the day after the big fall-out and there were still lots of birds hanging around. The guides take us to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which was somewhat familiar from a unscheduled walk we did earlier. We saw two different owl species which were there on both days. Many migrating warblers keep grabbing our attention. Deeper in the woods, there is an extravagance of thrushes: wood, Swainson's, grey-cheeked, as well as veery and robin. In the past I have struggled to be confident in identifying a grey-cheeked thrush so it wasn't on my life list yet. Today I'm offered several good views and learn to clearly separate it from the other thrushes. New bird for me! Later, as we watch over some open ponds, one of the guides spots a bank swallow. This was a priority find for my wife, also new for me. The guide spends time to made sure we can distinguish it from the barn swallows flying around with it.

After our few hours there end, we have recorded 72 species. What a morning. And it still isn't done. There is time for one more stop. As we approach Metzger Marsh, one guide receives a message that someone has just reported a king rail there. Unfortunately, the rail doesn't reappear in the 20 minutes we're there. Down at the end of the road, our original destination, there are many terns feeding over the water, including Caspian and black. These two are unusual for us in Virginia.  Black tern in particular, we've only seen two or three times before.  

Indigo bunting

Eastern screech owl in its favorite pose

Magnolia warbler

One of many grey-cheeked thrushes seen on the walk

Caspian tern looking for food

Birding with a group has the advantage of many people searching for birds. More spotters means more chances to find birds. However, as the group spreads out, it can be hard to be where the action is and get the great looks. First the guide up front sees a new species for the day. You hurry up there and get a good look. But then someone in the back, who missed out on that one, hears an exciting call back behind you. By the time you return back there, the bird has stopped calling. As you start forward again you chat with another participant who asks if you saw the hawk make a quick dive through the clearing. Nope, you were still listening for the bird who went silent on you. We had a tour that started like that. There was just one road through a wooded area to some marshes and the group quickly spread out. The birds didn't help as they were quick and quiet. Frustration builds and attentions start to wane.

In birding, you never know when the next great moment will be. As the group stops at an overlook that can really only hold half of us, a solitary sandpiper lands on a log close by. Everyone is getting great views. Then the guide hears a prothonotary warbler singing its Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet song. Half the group is still focused on the great sandpiper views when someone sees the warbler low in a bush on the opposite of us. And then the warbler comes at us working low through the bushes. Talk about great views. They aren't shy birds and I see them often around coastal Virginia but this one is right there! Five to ten feet away! And then it passes right through the group and continues on working the bushes. 

Further along the water there are a few pairs of trumpeter swans. These are actually very common near Magee Marsh, but were a lifer for my wife at the festival. On this tour, one pair swims right up to us, and we get to hear one for the first time, tooting like a toy trumpet.

The friendly prothonotary warbler

Solitary sandpiper resting on a log

Green heron hiding in the sticks

Trumpeter swan that swam up quite close to us

Our final day at the festival saw us on our longest and most distant tour. It was an all-day bus trip to Oak Openings. As we are riding out, one of the guides asks everyone if they have anything they special they want to see. We had noticed Henslow's sparrow was on some checklists in this area so we mention that. A few others also hope for the sparrow. The guide knows of two locations, one that is already on the planned route and the second we will be driving right by. This leads to our first stop of the day being a grassy field off the side of the road near the airport. Bird song is all around us and a few are popping up in the grass. A few people hear the Henslow's sparrow, but we can't make it out clearly. It remains on our searching-for list. 

Walking the trails at Oak Openings, we encounter a yellow-breasted chat singing from the top of a dead tree. Chats are usually sulking in the dense underbrush, even when singing. While distant, this is still some of the best views I've had of a chat. While we watch the chat, a red-headed woodpecker lands on the side of the tree. Now we have the striking red head of the woodpecker in the sun and the bright yellow of the chat in the same tree. Quite the treat. Then our guide calls out: blue-winged warbler! Given a few seconds to change attention and listen, we can all make out the song. It is calling from the far side of the opening we are at. We backtrack and take another trail in hopes of getting closer to the warbler. Now we are on the back side of the opening where the warbler had been calling from. But the call, and presumably the warbler, have moved much further down the trail. On this detour, our guides hear and see a pair of rare Olive-side flycatchers and we all get nice views. But we still want that blue-winged warbler! Off we go again. We are getting closer to the sound but no one sees the warbler yet. Then my wife sees the bird in a distant tree. The rest of us are finally able to see the bird. The find earned her a fist-bump from a guide and a hug from one of the participants who had never seen one before. The warbler is quite a ways off making it small even in the binoculars. Then it takes off and heads over us to practically where we started. We continue on the loop trail and come back upon it singing from right above the trail. Now the views are stunning. And close.   

As our last stop of the day, the guides take us to their "Henslow's" spot where a pair is known to be nesting. We walk out along a boardwalk, all expectantly listening for the sparrow's call. We pass someone who had just been hearing it about a half-mile further on. They didn't get to see it, just hear it. That would be fine with us. About halfway there we see a raptor fly out over the treetops. It is a strange looking bird. Very pale for any of the common raptors. Then it turns and we confirm it is a red-tailed hawk. It is leucistic, or partially albino, explaining the pale coloration. I'm able to take some photographs which show a blackbird harassing it and nearly landing on the hawk's back.

 

Red-headed woodpecker and yellow-breasted chat sharing a tree 

Blue-winged warbler showing off for us

Eastern wood-pewee

Song sparrow doing its song-thing

Leucistic red-tailed hawk with red-winged blackbird on its back

All told, the tours were a good way to visit spots off the well-worn path and the guides helped us see more birds, including lifers, than we would have without them. (Even if, without a guided tour, we probably would be less frustrated about the birds we miss!) 

'Til next time, happy exploring.