Magee Marsh, ONWR popular spots as peak birding migration season arrives
CARROLL TOWNSHIP – Thousands of visitors will descend on Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and other popular regional birding hot spots for the Biggest Week in
American Birding celebration, which began Friday.
For Kelly Schott, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources communications specialist, it’s a relative return to normalcy at Magee Marsh after two years of COVID-19 related closures and restrictions.
As she walked along Magee Marsh’s boardwalk area Wednesday, Schott said she had just talked to a birder from New York and saw a car in the parking lot with Nevada plates.
Last weekend, Schott talked to
birders from California, Arizona, Michigan and New York, all making the trip to Northwest Ohio to witness peak migration season in one of the country’s most popular birding areas.
“I do believe we’ll be back to prepandemic crowd levels,” Schott said, adding Black Swamp Bird Observatory officials told her more than 1,400 people already had signed up for Biggest Week activities.
Visitor counts have reached as high as 90,000
Crowds for peak migration season, which runs from mid-april through the end of May, have reached as high as 90,000 people, Schott said.
She said the crowds are typically in the 60,000-to-80,000 range.
The peak of that migration typically hits around the time of the Biggest Week celebration, which runs this year from Friday through May 15.
COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 Biggest Week, with the pandemic and road flooding closing access to Magee Marsh during last year’s peak migration.
In 2021, the boardwalk was accessible this year by permit only, Friday-monday for four weekends in May.
ODNR opened everything else at the Ottawa County park and added some new trails for the 2021 spring migration season.
Damage from an August storm forced ODNR to close the boardwalk area for extensive repairs for the remainder of 2021 and into April, when the state agency finally reopened it for birders.
The entire boardwalk is now open to the public except for a small portion near the midpoint, which will remain closed for reasons unrelated to the storm: it is in close proximity to a new bald eagle nest.
Spruced up boardwalk includes observation decks
ODNR’S announced improvements to the boardwalk include updates to the two observation decks at the west end, and increased accessibility for those using a wheelchair or scooter.
New this year, only monopods are allowed on the boardwalk from May 1-15.
Tripods may be used as monopods during this time.
ODNR also announced The
Sportsmen’s Migratory Bird Center at Magee Marsh will close, beginning May 16, until spring 2023 for renovations. Magee Marsh is one several locations popular with birders in Northwest Ohio.
Other birding sites are Pickerel Creek, Maumee Bay, Howard Marsh
ODNR cites Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area, Maumee Bay State Park, Howard Marsh Metropark, Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, East Harbor State Park and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR) as other prime birding sites.
Additional birding locations can be found by visiting the Lake Erie Birding Trail page at wildohio.gov.
About 25 to 30% of ONWR’S annual visitors usually come during peak bird migration season, although those numbers declined last year.
Rebecca Lewis, the refuge’s visitor services specialist, said she was seeing a lot more birders this year, with numbers approaching pre-pandemic levels.
She said there around 150 people per day at the refuge’s visitors center.
“Starting this weekend, we hit about 1,000 people each day,” Lewis said.
Like Schott, Lewis said she was seeing out-of-state visitors in addition to numerous local and Ohio residents.
Crowds for peak migration season, which runs from mid-april through the end of May, have reached as high as 90,000 people
Two programs a day planned at visitors center
There will be two Biggest Week programs held each day at ONWR’S visitors center.
So far, the biggest excitement came when a Kirtland’s warbler was seen on Magee Marsh’s boardwalk, Lewis said.
She said there also been sora sightings at ONWR, something she noted was unusual due to that bird’s secretive nature.
Schott said Friday and Saturday might not bring a flood of birds through Magee Marsh, with strong north winds proving to be a hindrance to some birds’ migrations.
Sunday and Monday is when Schott expects the next big push of migratory birds to come through Magee Marsh. dacarson@gannett.com 419-334-1046
Twitter: @Danielcarson7