Northwestern Ohio is known for warblers in early May but it’s also a good place to find just about any bird that’s heading north. That includes shorebirds.
In May 2007 I saw my first ever American golden plover. The bird was on a distant mudflat at Metzger Marsh, Ohio, so far away that I wouldn’t have seen it had Chuck and Joan Tague not shown it to me through their scopes. The bird’s golden back is gorgeous, though hard to see in this photo.
American golden plovers are long distant migrants who nest in the Arctic and winter in South America. Most of them travel through the Great Plains in spring but a few travel an eastern route that puts them on the shore of Lake Erie where we get a bit excited to see them.
Even from afar, this one’s a Best Bird.
(USFW photo in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the photo to see the original)
that is a gorgeous bird. NW Ohio is one of the best places to be during migration.
Chuck Tague wrote a nice blog about our first trip to Magee Marsh/Crane Creek 4 years ago. Read it here: http://web.me.com/kingrail/Natureobserver/Nature_Observers_Journal/Entries/2011/5/8_Weary_Travelers.html