Good warblers at Magee 29-Apr-2003 - I arrived at Magee at 7:00 A.M. The weather was clear skies, northeast winds about 10mph, with temps in the upper 40's. I saw a nice sunrise on the way out to Magee, and the early sun over the marsh looked nice. Along the causeway, I saw five Snowy Egrets, a Black-crowned Night Heron, Greater Yellowlegs, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwalls, Chipping Sparrows singing, and I heard a Sora call. Further out in the marsh west of the causeway and near the north end, there were several shorebirds of different sizes.

On the boardwalk between 7:15 and 8:45 A.M., I observed: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, male Cardinal mate-feeding a female, Yellow-rumps, Warbling Vireo, 2 female Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Hairy Woodpecker, heard a Sora, Wood Duck, Swamp Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, heard a Northern Waterthrush sing several times, Yellow Warbler, Northern Shoveler, female Hooded Merg, and a Pine Warbler was singing a lot, so I tracked it down and saw it. Bird numbers were low, but it was cold. Birds were found in sunny areas out of the wind.

I then went to the tower for my final hawk watch duty of the spring. I wore gloves. It was chilly, but almost no clouds, so being in the sun helped. My only recorded migrating raptor was a Northern Harrier. The temp at 9:00 A.M. was 9 degrees Celsius. At 11 it was 10, but was 13 or 14 by Noon.

After tower duty, I went back to the boardwalk, and things were better with the warmer temps. Within an hour, I saw three "good" warblers: an Orange-crowned, a Yellow throated, and a female Prairie. I heard the Pine Warbler again near the Prairie. The Yellow-throated Warbler was by the sign at the west entrance, hanging in trees with no foliage. At least adozen different warbler species were present on Tuesday at Magee. Also new in my afternoon session on the boardwalk was a Brown Creeper, a Hermit Thrush that had white speckles on its head and back, Palm Warbler, Winter Wren, Nashville Warbler, Ruddy Ducks offshore.