Ohio Bird Week kicks off this Friday. It’s the week when birds migrate from South and Central America and Mexico by flying thousands of miles to Lake Erie’s shore and on to Canada. It’s a big deal for birders, and often so for gardeners and hikers whose curiosity is piqued by how many birds they see and hear. “What was that?” and out come the Merlin bird identification apps.
True enthusiasts will participate in the Biggest Week in American Birding on the narrow western end of Lake Erie, and book rooms at Maumee Bay, Lakeside and Port Clinton so they can listen to lectures and walk with a guide. It’s not just about the warblers and not just about the boardwalk at Magee Marsh in Ottawa County, which becomes so crowded you can miss bird sightings as others scramble to find the Magnolias and Townsends.
I love seeing colorful orange and bright blue non-native birds come through northern Ohio. They pop against our green landscape and tweet with great charm. I agree with the motto on the BWIAB’s website—“Birds Unite Us.” We are enticed by the variety and number of birds, and come together to spot them, connecting with the birds and with each other. But there are other birds—herons, osprey, red-winged blackbirds, gnatcatchers, vireos, hawks and chimney swifts take to the skies in large numbers in spring and summer. The one I most like to see is the bald eagle.
Birds can also be healing for the heart and soul. When my husband was undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, I proposed a road trip in the second or third week, and we were off on a birding adventure. He needed a break. Although we were bound for Ottawa County’s Magee Marsh, we stopped at Sherod Park, Old Woman Creek Reserve, and Oak Harbor. The common element was water—in creeks, marshes, swamps and a Great Lake. We arrived at Magee Marsh in the slanted sunlight of late afternoon when hundreds of people crowded the boardwalk that wound through forest. The bright green, blue and yellow subtropical birds stood out in the dense darkness. An owl watched us from the hollow of a tree, and a heron on the bank of the creek blended in with the reeds. I put my arm around him as he looked for grackles in the decaying fallen leaves; when he leaned into me, he said, “I’ll be okay.” Just what I needed to hear. When I pulled out of the parking lot, we spotted an eagle high in the tree just before it soared into the sky. It felt hopeful.
My favorite local places to experience bird migration, as well as our native feathered friends, are Wendy Park and the Cleveland Lakefront Preserve on Lake Erie’s southern shore, wetland areas of the Cleveland Metroparks’ Rocky River Reservation, the towpath trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Sandy Ridge Reservation in the Lorain County Metroparks, and the Flats on the Cuyahoga River.
There’s a long list of what can be spotted. Listen for the calls of the bobwhite, mourning dove, American crow, downy woodpecker, bluejay, and the red-tailed hawk. Watch for the red-winged blackbirds perched on thin branches and brambles, soaring bald-headed eagles, triangular-winged chimney swifts, downward-climbing tufted titmouse, and fishing great blue heron. But right now, for two weeks, you may want to focus on finding the migraters: the yellow warbler, brown-headed cowbird, goldfinch, magnolia, Kentucky warbler, and others that bring spots of color to the trees.
You can find tours with Audubon and the Cleveland Metroparks, or you can go alone so you don’t hear the chatter. While you’ll want to identify the birds and take pictures, sometimes just listen and watch. Take a moment to notice the way they move, how they sound, where they like to be. Imagine what they might think of you. Ask yourself what you think of them.
It takes an hour and a half to get to Magee Marsh. We will probably go there in the coming week. We always need to experience the beauty, unifying presence, and healing power that birds provide. For us, birdwatching is also about how we found our way through a rough spot in our marriage.
Claudia J. Taller is a writer, yoga teacher, mindfulness leader, avid reader, nature lover, and sometimes an artist and musician. Her books include 30 Perfect Days, Finding Abundance in Ordinary Life. This reflective piece is the first one in her upcoming book All the Fleeting Days, Deconstructing and Re-Imagining a Life.
