The Warbler Tour! Magee Marsh & Michigan

Magee Marsh has a well-deserved reputation as one of the premiere spots in the country for observing Spring songbird migration. As wood warblers, all in their breeding plumage, head north to their nesting grounds in Canada, they stage at the southern edge of Lake Erie before making the long flight across the great lake. The Magee Marsh boardwalk is the perfect place to watch these foraging songbirds, often at eye level, and often so close that binoculars aren’t even necessary. 

For the first three days of this trip, we will explore Magee Marsh, the adjacent Ottawa National Wildlife refuge, and other nearby hotspots looking for Bay-breasted, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, and Magnolia Warblers, and many others, while also hoping for chance encounters with rarer species like Connecticut Warbler and Prairie Warbler. Of course, this trip is more than just warblers: we’ll have the opportunity to search for birds in a variety of habitats, looking for American Woodcock, White-rumped Sandpiper, Forster’s and Common Tern, Gray-cheeked and Wood Thrushes, and Scarlet Tanager.

Up next we’ll head north to Michigan, where Tawas will be our home base as we visit the Huron-Manistee National Forest to look for the incredible and rare Kirtland’s Warbler, which breeds only in limited patches of Jack Pine forest. We’ll also explore the area searching for specialties like Upland Sandpiper, Clay-colored Sparrow, and Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos. On our last full day we’ll bird Tawas Point, which, while not as famous as Magee Marsh, is one of the premiere migration spots in North America, and is often voted by participants as the best location we visit on this tour.