Went to Magee Marsh with a friend yesterday morning - early. We were amongst the first birders on the boardwalk. But not for long. This was the beginning of the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) festival. Birding was quite slow, but we did manage to see a couple of very good birds.
I did not get any good bird photos. I actually took my new camera for dragonfly photos to practice with it. A bit tricky. Hope it works better for dragonflies than it did for birds yesterday.
What we did see was the astonishing sunrise over the marsh.
If interested, our eBird checklist is here. But, if you just want to know our two good birds, they were Olive-sided Flycatcher (rare for this location) and Gray-cheeked Thrush (early date). Gray-cheeked Thrush was included on the eBird checklist, but Olive-sided Flycatcher needed to be an add on. The Olive-sided Flycatcher was found by my friend. When we reported it to the sightings person keeping the board in the festival's organizers' tent, we learned that it had also been seen in the same location the day before. News travels quickly at Magee Marsh and a few hundred nearby birders were able to see it. One of the birders said it was a life bird for him. I knew how he felt. I lose track of time, but until yesterday I hadn't seen an Olive-sided flycatcher in, perhaps, ten years.
When we backed out of our plumb, early arrivers parking spot there was a car waiting to slip into the center of the action. Driving out we observed that all of the parking spaces were occupied and cars were starting to fill the field beyond the east end of the boardwalk. If you go, arrive early.
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