A pair of nightjars: Common Nighthawk and Eastern Whip-poor-will

 

As always, click the image to enlarge

A Common Nighthawk roosts about 20 feet off the ground, on a horizontal tree branch. This is a typical roosting spot for these nightjars.

Almost immediately after arriving at the Magee Marsh parking lot last Wednesday, some friends informed me of not one, but two roosting nightjars along the nearby Estuary Trail. Never one to miss out on good looks at nightjars, I soon arrived at the scene. The above is a classic nighthawk roosting spot, off the ground on a horizontal limb. Because of the situation, this bird stuck out pretty well, sometimes they are far harder to see.

At one point, the nighthawk had to relieve itself. It stood on its impossibly tiny feet and legs, waddled 90 degrees so that it was perpendicular to the limb, and blasted its effluvia to the ground. It did not want to foul its roosting spot.

This posture better showcased its barred underparts, and we can see the white patch on its primary flight feathers that is so conspicuous in flight. This bird likely wintered somewhere in South America, although the wintering range of Common Nighthawk is imperfectly understood. Suffice to say, this nighthawk has already come a LONG way and may still have some distance to go (this species breeds well into Canada and even gets into Alaska).

A hundred yards or less away was this Eastern Whip-poor-will. As is typical, it was roosting on a log on the ground, in a tangled area, and was much harder to see.

For photography purposes, it was fortuitous that these animals were not along the famed "bird trail" boardwalk. Because of all the birder traffic, taking a tripod onto the boardwalk is taboo, as it should be. There simply isn't room, and all shooting should be handheld. But I was using my 800mm, and it is a tank of a lens and not something most people would want to handhold for extended periods, me included. But there's no such problem on the wide-open estuary trail, thus I could use my 800mm f/5.6 lens and the extra reach of the big lens was hugely helpful, especially for the nighthawk which was further away. For some reason, I did not have my 1.4x teleconverter in my backpack, or I would have used that too. The 800/1.4x combo makes for an 1120 mm f/8 lens, and for subjects such as these roosting nightjars, it works perfectly. Nonetheless, even the bare 800mm was okay, even with a fair bit of cropping.

Baltimore Oriole

 

As always, click the photo to enlarge

A male Baltimore Oriole pauses in a copse of smooth sumac (Rhus glabra). This vibrant blackbird is one of the most colorful species in North America and looks quite tropical. And it is. Baltimore Orioles primarily winter in Central America and northern South America and spend more time down there than up here. I saw and heard many yesterday. One should never tire of the male's glorious flute-like whistling. Magee Marsh, Lucas County, Ohio, May 13, 2026.

I made an epic trip to Lake Erie yesterday, primarily visiting Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. At Sheldon along, I saw 21 warbler species and added several more at Magee. Tons of other stuff as well, and I returned from 14-hour door-to-door excursion with nearly 4,000 images. That's in large part because I was shooting my Canon R5 in electronic mode at the maximum frame rate, which yields 20 frames per second. Birds are fast, and fast burst rates are best to capture interesting postures.

I've got some really cool stuff from this trip and will share some more imagery later.

Swainson's Warbler in Ohio: Breeding?

 

A Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) belts out its loud, whistled song, which is somewhat reminiscent of a Louisiana Waterthrush. The latter sometimes occurs within earshot of the former on breeding grounds. I made this image in West Virginia, where this species nests within dense stands of great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum).

While I find this species to be a handsome animal, it probably would rank low among eastern North America's 38 breeding warbler species in the looks department, to most people. There's a lot of competition, including gorgeous lookers such as Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, Prairie Warbler and many others. But who cares? All of that is superficial. To me, the Swainson's Warbler - a species I have come to know well over the past few decades - is fascinating on several fronts.

One is its rarity. Swainson's Warbler is the third rarest breeding warbler in eastern North America, with a total population estimate of about 140,000 birds. The Kirtland's Warbler eclipses it in rarity, by a longshot. A census conducted in 2025 produced only 1,489 pairs, or 2,978 individuals. Rarer yet - WAY rarer - is the Bachman's Warbler. Most people consider it extinct, including me, and the last documented, acceptable sighting was in 1961 in South Carolina.

Undated photo, photographer unknown (at least to me)

The above photo shows a man on horseback in front of a stand of giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea). It was obviously taken long ago. This enormous grass, the bamboo of eastern North America, forms extensive stands known as canebrakes. This was the primary habitat of Swainson's Warbler. I say "was" because humans have destroyed nearly all of the canebrakes, which used to occur commonly along streams and river across much of the eastern U.S. That undoubtedly included the north side of the Ohio River and its immediate tributaries.

Map courtesy BONAP (Biota of North America Program)

The light green counties on the above map show where giant cane occurs, or mostly, USED to occur. As noted, most of the large canebrakes no longer exist. These records are based on plant specimens, most of them probably very old.

Map courtesy of Birds of the World (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

This is the range map of the protagonist of this post, the Swainson's Warbler. The pinkish areas represent the breeding range. You'll notice a lot of overlap with the giant cane map.

Although there's no way to prove it, I would bet that the north side of the Ohio River, in Ohio, hosted breeding Swainson's Warblers. There certainly must have been large canebrakes. There are numerous other plant species that also reach their northern terminuses on the Ohio side of the Ohio River.

One of the great tragedies was the shockingly fast and sweeping destruction of canebrakes. Rivers were the highways for settlers invading the Ohio Country and elsewhere in the interior, and the cane would have been quite easy to destroy with fire or simple tools. Canebrake land would have made for very fertile croplands and potential town sites. Anyway, it was pretty much gone before anyone had a chance to document the extent of the canebrakes.

As always, click the photo to enlarge

Nonetheless, scraps and fragments of canebrakes persist. Including the one above. Most of the understory in this shot is cane, growing along a small stream in Shawnee State Forest in Scioto County, Ohio. I was standing approximately in the middle of the stand when I made this image on May 7, 2025.

In 2024, a singing Swainson's Warbler was found here, and it stayed for quite a while. The following year, 2025, it or another returned and summered, but apparently was without a mate.

While I had heard the 2025 bird, I saw no evidence of a mate or breeding. But I did discover something very interesting, that might account for the birds' interest in this site. On May 7, I visited this location, but came in the long way, from the heart of the forest to the north. As I neared the location, windows rolled down and listening intently, I noticed cane thickets through the woods, along the stream. Come leafout of trees and shrubs, the cane is completely concealed but leaves were still undeveloped by the time of my visit.

I bushwhacked back to the cane and saw that the stand was fairly extensive, although I still need to go back in there and get accurate measurements of its extent. It is by far the largest canebrake I have seen, and indeed, the only one I have seen in Ohio.

So, I don't think it is a coincidence that Swainson's Warblers are smitten with this site. And I wonder if and how long they may have been summering here before some sharp birders discovered them in 2024. Also, on my visit this spring, I found four Swainson's Warblers! I watched what was undoubtedly a pair: a singing male closely hanging with another, even together on the same branch. This species is monomorphic and as far as I know, cannot be sexed visually. Walking down the road produced two other singing males. I have no idea whether they also had mates.

I imagine finding a Swainson's Warbler nest is not easy, even though they are often within 4-5 feet of the ground, although they've been found as high as 12 feet. Their nest is the largest of any wood warbler, but its exterior is covered with dead leaves, so the nest can look much like an old clump of leaves or flood debris. The female does all the construction, but the male is often close at hand. Sometimes the nest is woven into the cane, or it might be placed in dense shrubby growth nearby.

While the first Swainson's Warbler in Ohio was discovered in 1947 in Lawrence County, and there have been at least eight territorial singing males in or near Ohio River counties since (not counting the birds described in this post), and at least two of those older reports mention two birds were present, breeding has never been documented in the state.

As there are most definitely at least one pair at the Shawnee site, I would think they would attempt nesting. But given their rarity, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for lots of people to traipse about the site seeking a nest. Hopefully a careful, targeted search can be undertaken by one or two stealthy, knowledgeable people. It would be most useful to know for sure if they are breeding, not only for potential management considerations, but to document the first nesting of this species on the north side of the Ohio River.

A stunning slipper

 

A gorgeous Yellow Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) springs from dry ridgetop soil deep in Shawnee State Forest. This stunning specimen towered to at least a foot and a half in height. These orchids look otherworldly, almost fake, as if created by some exceptionally talented botanical artist.

Last weekend was the Midwest Native Plant Society's Spring Safari, and a big part of that is the Saturday field trips. We managed to find many interesting plants, and animals, including this orchid and many others.

Scioto County, Ohio, May 3, 2026.

PHOTO NOTE: I made this photo with the Canon R5, and the amazing Canon EF 200mm/f/2 lens. This image was shot wide-open at f/2. The other settings were ISO 400 and 1/1250 shutter speed. Regarding the latter two settings, a bit of operator error there. I should have shut the ISO down to 100 or 200, for an even cleaner file. The shutter speed would have been much lower but still easily handholdable, which is how I was shooting at that time. Nonetheless, it's good to be your own worst critic when it comes to improving one's photography. I'm often shooting a wide range of subjects in short time periods and occasionally forget to modify my settings when switching subjects.

This lens creates perhaps the best bokeh (background quality) of any lens that I have ever worked with. It is a rarity, and not cheap. I got mine used, from a guy in New Mexico. It was the only one that I could find on the market at that time. It's not in heavy use, but when I want a crazy clean background such as above and can get reasonably close to my subject (seldom a problem with plants) I break it out. It also may be the sharpest lens I've owned.

Another great thing about the 200mm f/2 is how well it works handheld. It's fairly light and has incredible image stabilization. Plus, when shooting at wide apertures so much light comes in through that big piece of glass that even in gloomy conditions one can get reasonable if not blazing fast shutter speeds.

Handholding also allows one to use their feet as the zoom with a prime (non-zoom) lens like this. It's much faster than setting and resetting and fiddling with a tripod (although I also do LOTS of that). On this day, there was dappled sun penetrating this forest edge, and it created yellowish hotspots as seen in the upper left corner of the image. I tweaked my position so that the bright hotspots were not directly behind the yellow slipper flower - that wouldn't have been a great look. Also, I wanted the bract and sepals subtending the pouch-like flower to stand apart from one another. Taking those extra moments to carefully police the background and avoid potentially distracting objects or abrupt variations in light, as well as placing your subject at the best possible angle, usually makes for a much better photo. I want my subject to be the star of the photograph and not competing against other extraneous subjects for the viewer's attention.

Small-flowered Scorpionweed revisited

 

As always, click the image to enlarge

The above image is of an herbarium specimen in the Ohio State University herbarium. It is a specimen of a very rare (for Ohio) plant known as Small-flowered Scorpionweed (Phacelia dubia). I made this collection on May 5, 1998, on a rocky promontory high above the Ohio River in Scioto County. I had always wanted to go up there, mainly just to see the place, and had no great expectations other than an amazing vista of the Ohio River Valley and the hills of Kentucky on the other side.

NOTE: Herbaria are repositories of plant specimens, generally housed within academic institutions. They provide an important historical perspective on our flora, in addition to conserving evidence of the flora that is (and, sadly, in many cases, WAS present but no longer is) present in a given area. Herbaria remain quite relevant and are important to researchers studying plants. The Ohio State University herbarium is one of the region's largest and best, and curators have digitized most of the specimens, such as the one shown above. That's no small feat, given the herbarium contains well over a half a million specimens, and more are constantly being added. This herbarium was founded over 125 years ago. Here's a link to the OSU herbarium: Herbarium | Museum of Biological Diversity

Back then, there wasn't much of a trail to reach this site, and it was a steep rather arduous trek to gain the summit. Since then, ODNR's Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, which owns this site (Raven Rock State Nature Preserve) has created a more user-friendly trail but it's still a decent workout to reach the top. An access permit is required, so please don't go there without one (I did have permission).

Appalachian Scorpionweed in flower, May 1, 2026

Bingo! It was pleasing indeed to see the gorgeous scorpionweed was still present and doing well. In a normal year - are we going to have any of those anymore? - this plant would have been in peak bloom. But most everything seems to be about two weeks earlier than normal this spring, and most of the flowers of this ephemeral annual had already passed. I hadn't been up there since I made the discovery, and it was great to rekindle a relationship with this gorgeous species.

The scorpionweed blooms might remind you of waterleaf flowers (genus Hydrophyllum), with good reason. This plant also belongs to that family.

Small-flowered Scorpionweed is rather disjunct from the core populations in the Appalachian Mountains, and this population is the farthest northwest station for the species. Until I found this site, in Ohio it was known from only one old record from Fairfield County, presumably long gone. I believe a small site was discovered in Knox County in more recent years, but I am not certain of that.

I am glad that Raven Rock is in the hands of responsible managers with great floristic expertise who can manage the site well and ensure that this state-endangered species can flourish for years to come.

White Lady's-slipper orchid - WAY ahead of schedule

 

Yesterday was a fabulous 14-hour day afield, to Ohio's north country. One primary target was this gorgeous orchid, the White Lady's-slipper (Cypridium candidum). This state-endangered species occurs in a few Ohio locales and is far scarcer EVERYWHERE in its range these days. It is a denizen of moist prairies and fens, and we (people) have wiped out over 99% of Midwestern prairies, and most of the fens (alkaline bogs) too.

I believe the plant in the photo below is of hybrid origin, with its strongly purplish sepals, and in the field (but not showing up in the photo) the white pouch has a distinct very pale yellowish cast. They are also typically taller than the pure White Lady's-slippers (hybrid vigor).

This site is interesting in that it supports small numbers of this hybrid, whose parents are White Lady's-slipper and Yellow Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum). The latter parent species is apparently no longer present at this site and probably has not been for a long time. When I first saw these hybrids, which botanists know as Cypripedium x andrewsii, at this locale some 30 or more years ago, there were more of them, and many were more strongly yellowish. I could only find two hybrid candidates yesterday, even though the colony was nearing peak bloom. It also was by far the earliest I have seen White Lady's-slipper in flower. It typically flowers in the 2nd or 3rd week of May.

Belted Kingfisher

A female Belted Kingfisher laughs at the photographer. In this species, the female is showier than the male, as she sports the cinnamon bands in addition to the blue breast band. Males have only the latter and are cinnamonless. This species is often hard to photograph well, as kingfishers generally shun the company of just about everything, including their own species (other than during the breeding season, when males take on much of the nesting tasks). They vociferously object to interlopers with loud rattles and usually fly up the creek and far away. I stumbled across this photo while plumbing the archives for a project. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, February 21, 2017.

I apologize for my recent laxness in providing posts. Busy, busy, but scads of material await, as always.