The Biggest Week in American Birding (https://www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/) is a remarkable birding festival that takes place in northern Ohio each May. It’s centred around the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area/Oak Harbor, which styles itself as the warbler capital of the world because of the large number of migrating birds , and especially warblers, that are found there each spring. Many well known US and international bird guides attend the event and provide free guided tours along the boardwalks of Magee Marsh each day, which are particularly useful for new birders. There are also evening lectures, workshops, trips to nearby birding areas and social events, making it a must attend event for local birders and others who travel from further afield.
We attended the 2015 Biggest Week in American Birding for nine days, flying from London Heathrow to Detroit on a Delta flight and travelling to the event by rental car that we picked up at Detroit airport. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites on the southeastern side of Port Clinton, which was just 20 minutes drive from Magee Marsh and handy for the restaurants and shops of Port Clinton.
We spend most of our time on or close to the extensive boardwalk at Magee Marsh as this gets you close to the birds, which are often on branches just above your head or little more than a few metres away making it ideal for photographers.
Warblers are undoubtedly the main attraction at Magee Marsh and many species can be seen in breeding plumage as they rest in the trees on the shores of Lake Erie before they fly north into Canada. During this trip we were lucky enough to photograph 16 species of warbler, with our favourites being the Blackburnian, Bay-breasted and Cape May Warblers.
Besides warblers there were plenty of other interesting birds to be seen and photographed at Magee Marsh.
The registration for the event was at the Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center (https://www.maumeebaylodge.com/) a few miles west of Magee Marsh, where there was also a good lakeside restaurant and walks with feeders and nesting boxes. There, a brown morph Eastern Screech Owl posed for us coming out of one of the nest boxes and also in nearby trees.
We really enjoyed our visit to the Biggest Week in American Birding in 2015, with the nine days passing really quickly and being over far too soon. There was a really friendly feel to the whole event and a great camaraderie between those attending who were happy to share their sightings and love of birding. We would highly recommend it to any birder, whether a newcomer or someone who has birded extensively.