All packed up and ready to go...

I leave tomorrow morning for Toledo and the Great Black Swamp! On Tuesday morning, I'm teaching a class on field sketching for beginners. This will be the third time I've taught this class, and it will be fun. This class is part of the "Biggest Week in American Birding" sponsored by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and if you love birds (especially warblers), it's the place to be in May...

The workbook I wrote for the class and other field sketching supplies are ready to be packed up. 

Why do migrating warblers love the Great Black Swamp and Magee Marsh? 
...because they are exhausted from their long flights from their wintering grounds in South America, and they need to rest up before crossing Lake Erie on the final leg of their journey northward to their summer breeding grounds. The trees literally drip with warblers, and they are often at eye level instead of high in the treetop canopies.  Click here for a must-read article titled "Magee; Anatomy of a Migrant Hotspot," by Kenn Kaufman. It's on the American Birding Association blog, and it explains everything going on at this birding hotspot.

A female Canada Warbler is giving some unsuspecting insect the eye.

Female Canada Warbler
The large, bight eye ring stands out so well on Canada Warblers and adds to their charm. 

...the yellow lines above the nose on a Canada Warbler create a nice pattern.

...now, to get busy packing!

...now to pack the car!

Click here for another article you might want to read called "I've got Swamp Fever," by Kim Smith who writes the blog, Nature is my Therapy. She explains a little more about the Great Black Swamp in her post.

      

I will be blogging about the Biggest Week over the next few weeks. The birds, the people, the events...everything about the Biggest Week is amazing!