Month: June 2025

I often photograph things that catch my eye that others seem not to notice. Moose calls these things “Carolisms.” Over the years, Moose has taken to pointing out something that screams “Carolism” that I might not notice. Such was the case a couple of days ago at Magee Marsh. Moose pointed to a spray of purple flowers (turns out to be a toxic plant called Bittersweet Nightshade) that was suspended next to the boardwalk with a great background. It was, in fact, a perfect Carolism. As I focused my lens, an Eastern Calligrapher (a type of hover fly) landed on one of the flowers. Wow! A double Carolism! The breeze was stiff and the spray of flowers swayed back and forth from light to deep shade while the Calligrapher clung to the flower. I was afraid it would fly off before I was able to capture the image I wanted in the right light but luck was with me or maybe it was the ice cream I’d consumed the previous afternoon that helped. Whatever it was, to me, it was a perfect Carolism times two! Thank you, Moose!

Vegetation surrounding the boardwalk at Magee Marsh is green, lush, and dense. Warblers and many of the other birds that migrate through Magee Marsh are tiny and they can easily hide in the canopy. Hearing birds was not a problem there. Locating them once they have made their presence known could be difficult, especially for people like me. I always seem to be the last person to spot a subject even after I’ve been alerted to it and its location has been pointed out to me. Yesterday morning as we looked for a bird whose voice we heard, Moose called out to me and pointed to a female Philadelphia Vireo on a thin trunk. I spotted it immediately, much to my surprise, probably because it did stick out a bit amidst the green background and I managed to get a few clicks before it disappeared behind a leaf. It looked like it was peeking around and taunting me as if to say, “Peek-a-boo, here I am, try to photograph me if you can.”

A male Prothonotary Warbler at Magee Marsh was warbling his song, first in a tree overhead, then in another tree at eye level next to the boardwalk, and then on a leafless branch overlooking a rotting log on the ground. He seemed to be protecting his territory and a female Prothonotary Warbler was nearby either remodeling or already tending to a nest in a cavity in the log. As I turned to photograph the male, it struck me how much he reminded me of his confectionary doppelgänger. He is a real live Peep!

I’m back at Magee Marsh, a wildlife preserve adjacent to Lake Erie in Ohio. It’s a stopover for migrating birds, especially warblers, as they head to the Arctic to breed and stop to refuel before crossing the lake. But there are lots more birds than just warblers here. 2023 was my last visit here and on our last day, we found an Eastern Screech Owl nestled in the cavity of a dead tree, almost invisible as its feathers blended perfectly with the weathered bark of the dead tree. We had passed it, unnoticed, dozens of times during our four day visit then. Fast forward two years and on our first day, we discovered an Eastern Screech Owl taking an afternoon siesta before it began its nighttime search for food. What a great way to start our visit here, with the same bird species we ended it with two years ago.