Lens envy...

...do I even need to say anything?

Monster camera lenses can be found all over the boardwalk...

Chestnut-sided Warbler on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh
...lucky for me the warblers at Magee don't care what size of lens you have. They come in so close a 200mm lens with a 2x extender picks them up just fine! 

The Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh
Whoa......today was another stellar day of birding. I was on the boardwalk by 7:30 a.m. (for those of my friends that know my night-owl ways, be impressed...) and quickly started adding warblers. My birding friend, Rob  Ripma (The Nutty Birder) put me on an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a life bird for me. I also picked up a Golden-winged Warbler and a Canada Warbler. From there the birds just kept coming, but on top of that, so did the birding friends I know. Some of the birders I saw on the boardwalk today...

Rob - The Nutty Birder
Dawn - Dawn's Bloggy Blog
Kathi - KatDoc's World
Susan - Susan Gets Native
Sharon - Birdchick
Gunnar - Kolibri Expeditions
Kim - Birding with Kenn and Kimberly
Bobby - Bobby's Photo Blog
Ann - editor of the Cerulean (Ohio Ornithological Society)
Linda - Photo Feathers
Debbie - Naturally Beautiful Photography Moments
Mardi - Kymry Group

To learn more about Magee Marsh, click here. 
To learn more about the Black Swamp Bird Observatory and The Biggest Week, click here. 

Chestnut-sided Warbler paintings...

Chestnut-sided Warblers are always a fun warbler to watch. Their bright yellow heads and rusty-chestnut sides always look so nice through the binocs! I continue to plug away on the 100 Painting Challenge (2nd year). I finished these paintings a few weeks ago and posted them to the challenge site and the Birding is Fun site, but forgot about old Red. So here they are...

Painting 176. Tough Chestnut-sided Warbler on the Lookout

(watercolor, charcoal, and an electronic PhotoShop Filter)

...pencil sketch of the Chestnut-sided Warbler

Painting 175. Chestnut-sided Warbler Migrating Through...

(watercolor, charcoal, salt for the mottled background, and an electronic PhotoShop Filter)

...pencil sketch for painting 175

Painting 174. Chestnut-sided Warbler in the Forest

(oil pastel over a quick watercolor)

(...this is my favorite!)

Painting 173. Chestnut-sided Warbler on Branch

(...a quick practice painting to plan painting 174. It is colored pencil over a two-minute watercolor.)

Electronic Bird Art - ElectroBirds!

...when you have fun with the Glowing Edges filter in Photoshop, our favorite feathered friends take on a new, hip, hot, and electrified image! I can dig it, baby...

Chestnut-sided Warbler made hip with glowing edges.

American Goldfinch--Vegas style!

A juvenile American Bald Eagle leaps to his nest. Truly, though, it's electrifying seeing him even without the glowing edges!

A Red-shouldered Hawk is beautiful in neon...

...the same Red-shouldered Hawk on his return flight is just as striking.

Even a Brown Pelican becomes cool when he's powered on...

...but a sweet little Sanderling seems a little out of place in his hipster garb!

A Chestnut-sided Warbler on the Trail and a Butter Butt at the Heronry (BPW #37)

This little Chestnut-sided Warbler showed up on the Little Miami Bike Trail May 2, and I’ve seen several others since then. If I'm lucky, I might stumble across a few more over the next week or so, but by the end of May, their numbers will dwindle as the majority will have passed through Cincinnati, already arriving on the northernmost parts of their breeding grounds. I love spotting Chestnut-sided Warblers. Their bellies are so white, and their chestnut sides and little yellow crowns really stand out.


Chestnut-sided Warblers prefer second-growth forests, so extensive cutting of mature forests for farmland in the 1800s benefitted these little birds, and they had quite a population explosion because of it. Today, however, some local populations are experiencing a slight decline as many forests mature. The Chestnut-sided Warbler is also sensitive to urbanization and habitat fragmentation, and that's never good.

This photo shows his habit of holding his tail 

partly cocked with his wings slightly drooped. 

I love it when I catch these little "Bullet Bird" shots. They 

just make me laugh...more powerful than a speeding bullet...

Looks like his bill is pointed north. I hope he has a successful 

summer, and a whole brood of young fly south in the autumn!

I grabbed this photo of another Yellow-rumped Warbler at the Great Blue Heron heronry on May 3. He was in the woods at the bottom of the field, gleaning insects from leaves. He too has almost ended his stay in our area…continuing to work his way north to raise a little family.

I love these little Butter Butts. They are so precious. I 

would like to capture a photo that clearly shows that little pat 

of butter on his rump one of these days...maybe next year!

He is always described as the most prevalent migrating 

warbler, which is just fine, because he’s so darn cute! 

Hopefully there's always plenty of him to go around.

This is my first time to participate in Bird Photography Weekly. 

Click here to see some great bird photos from around the world.