Each year, I spend much of the month of May birding in Ohio while at the Biggest Week in American Birding. While there are tons of migrants to see at this festival, warblers tend to be the main attractions. Although this year started off a bit slow due to weather, the birding get better throughout the week. The final weekend was incredible though!
It’s quite an experience to have a chance to see how migration progresses. The diversity and density of species can change rapidly. During the start of the festival, Yellow-rumped Warblers were prevalent. By the end of the event, only a few remained. Some of the late migrant, like Mourning and Connecticut Warblers, are completely absent early in May. But, they were being found frequently on the final weekend.
Here’s a few of the over 30 warbler species I saw in the first two weeks of May.
©Rob Ripma Yellow Warbler is the most common warbler species seen during the Biggest Week.
©Rob Ripma Prothonotary Warbler can be found along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh
©Rob Ripma Bay-breasted Warbler is one of the many migrant warblers you might see.
As much as this festival is about the warblers, it’s also about all the wonderful people that attend. Each year, birders from around the world travel to this region to see the migrants. It’s one of the only chance many of us have to see so many of our birding friends from around the world.
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