Magee Marsh Boardwalk 5/14--Red-eyed Vireo, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wilson's Warbler

Photo: Shari Zirlin

We returned to the boardwalk despite the imminent danger of falling trees. Now that the Biggest Week was over the boardwalk a much more pleasant to walk on and you could look at a bird without having to elbow your way to the railing.

The most satisfying find on this walk through was the Louisiana Waterthrush I identified. When I saw a waterthrush with a long, wide, white "eyebrow" and saw that it was more white than cream colored I was pretty certain I had a Louisiana, but naturally, it wouldn't stand still long enough for to make an absolutely positive i.d. Then I heard, a few feet down the boardwalk, a young guide explaining that the bird was displaying classic Louisiana Watertrush behavior and I felt good about my birding skills, for the moment. This was, according to others, a late sighting for LOWA.

Another late sighting we had was Golden-crowned Kinglet, a pleasant surprise to find in May.

Overnight, there had been an influx of American Redstarts to the point where I was just referring to them as YAR--yet another redstart.

We spent almost 3 hours walking the boardwalk and didn't quite complete our survey because a tweet I received propelled us off the boardwalk as fast as our middle-aged legs would take us.

For the morning we had 44 species on our stroll through the marsh.
Trumpeter Swan  2    Heard
Mourning Dove  1    Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Least Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Tree Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
House Wren  2
Carolina Wren  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1   
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Veery  1
American Robin  1
Gray Catbird  5
Ovenbird  2
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Northern Waterthrush  1
Black-and-white Warbler  2
Tennessee Warbler  1    Heard
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
American Redstart  30
Cape May Warbler  3
Northern Parula  1
Magnolia Warbler  1
Bay-breasted Warbler  6
Blackburnian Warbler  3
Yellow Warbler  4
Chestnut-sided Warbler  2
Black-throated Blue Warbler  2
Palm Warbler  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  10
Black-throated Green Warbler  5
Wilson's Warbler  1
Lincoln's Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  4
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  X
Common Grackle  10
Baltimore Oriole  1