Camera Club visits Magee Marsh

By Doug Heckler, Wassenberg Camera Club President

As part of the “Biggest Week of American Birding” May 4-13, The Wassenberg Camera Club took a field trip on May 12 to Magee Marsh in Oak Harbor, OH, the “Warbler Capital of the World”, with a side trip about a mile west to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Participants from the Club included: President Doug Heckler, Vice President Will Hawkins, LV and Shirley Hollis, Tracy Sterling, and Med Smith.

The group arrived on site at 9 a.m. and hiked to the nearly mile-long boardwalk at Magee Marsh. Some of the species observed and photographed by the group include: Baltimore Orioles, Yellow, Pine, Tennessee, Magnolia, and Kentucky, Chestnut Sided, Prothonotary and Carolina Warblers, Philadelphia Vireo, Kinglets, Cat Birds, Green Herons, Tree Swallows, Great Horned Owls, and Screech Owls.  After lunch, the group visited the Ottawa NWR and took a walking tour as well as an auto tour around the myriad of wetlands habitat that make up this area. Here, more waterfowl and raptors were spotted and photographed and include: Great White and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Blue-winged Teal, Sandhill Cranes, Bald Eagles, Flickers, Canada Geese, and the ubiquitous Red Wing Blackbirds, a favorite of one of our club members.

By the time we returned to the boardwalk at 3:15 the crown had thinned and offered better birding opportunities for the group. In addition to birds, muskrats, rabbits, snakes, and frogs were observed as part of the area’s fauna. This is the second year that the club has made this trip, which is likely to become an annual outing for the group. In excess of 1200 exposures were taken among the group. An all-day outing, (6:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.) this was a good opportunity for club members to share their collective hobby and have a good time. The marsh is located about 10 miles north of Oak Harbor on Ohio Route 2, about 25 miles east of Toledo.