Operating March 1 - May 31, 2025 and every day through The Biggest Week In American Birding!
Golden-winged Warbler
Eastern Wood-Pewee
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Introducing BSBO's First Morning Flight Count Project
Spanning March 1 to May 31, this project is designed to capture a full season of standardized data documenting active, visible migration over a designated site on the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area. This data will be used primarily for BSBO research projects, and the count itself will serve as an avenue for public outreach and communications work. The focus of the count is driven by specific research questions and a priority for building a standardized dataset that could be easily referenced and integrated with existing protocols and methods (i.e. the Midwest Migration Network). The count design also aims to create and publish accessible protocols and materials to encourage collaboration with other similar efforts in the region. Current morning flight studies are generally not designed with data viability for research use as a priority, and no publicly available protocols exist for these projects. |
Red-headed Woodpecker
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What is the morning flight count?
As birds are moving overhead, our counters will be identifying them using flight calls, plumage, flight patterns, and photos. This allows for even birds such as warblers to be identified as they are flying over quickly. During the count, they will be recording the species, numbers, and flight direction and updating it live via the Trektellen count site. Our friends at Kowa are generously providing scopes to use while visiting the count site to enjoy the variety of birds on Lake Erie and in the marsh. |
Baltimore Oriole
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What causes morning flight?
Many songbird species migrate nocturnally, and this movement continues into the early hours of the morning. These flights can last for several hours, as birds that were over water near sunrise search for an ideal place to land. |
Indigo Bunting
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What species engage in morning flight?
Morning flight consists primarily of small songbirds, such as warblers, vireos, and finches. Larger songbirds can also participate, including Blue Jay, which forms spectacular flocks numbering into the hundreds or thousands. As the skies warm throughout the morning, we may see some raptors begin to lift off as well. |
Scarlet Tanager
American Redstart
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Why Metzger Marsh?
Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area is ideally situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, in a perfect location to catch birds heading back south to reorient after their nocturnal migration. Small songbirds tend to drop into the woodlot here, as they are reluctant to continue heading southeast across the large, open marsh where they are exposed to predators. The dike between the lake and the marsh provides a clear vantage point to see the sky, marsh, lake, and woodlot. Morning flight provides the opportunity to see many species in ways you may have never seen them before! Our counters will share ID tips for identification in flight. The gallery below contains images of some of the species that have been photographed during morning flight at Metzger Marsh. |
Read more about the details of the study by using the dropdown menu below
Study design
The count takes place on the outer dike at the Metzger Marsh WMA. The count runs a minimum of 5 days per week (likely more), beginning 15 minutes before sunrise and extending for a minimum of three hours after sunrise, with the option to extend the count as late as needed until visible migration has ceased to a negligible rate of passage. The count is conducted regardless of weather with the exception of torrential downpours, thunderstorms, or other dangerous conditions. The expected total observation effort for the three-month season will range between 400 and 500 observation hours.
The counter, to the best of their ability, counts, identifies, and records flight direction for all birds determined to be in active migration (unidentified birds are recorded to the most precise taxon possible). Birds are detected and identified visually and/or aurally. The counter is experienced with both identifying all regularly-occurring eastern North American birds in flight and with accurately counting large volumes of birds in a professional capacity.
Data is entered live in the field on an electronic tablet via the Trektellen database, and each entry is time-stamped for further precision. Additional individual data such as age and sex is recorded when possible. Weather data is recorded at the beginning of the count, at sunrise, and at the beginning of each hour following sunrise to ensure correlation of count and weather data throughout the observation period. Additionally, weather and, potentially, radar data for the previous night is recorded in a separate database by the counter. Following the conclusion of the season, the counter will prepare a full report summarizing the season efforts.
The counter also engages with on-site visitors in a public outreach capacity by providing information and education on the count background, count methods, BSBO's mission, and BSBO's research goals and by answering general questions from the public as required.
The specifics of the count and weather protocols have been developed to ensure long-term viability as a standardized dataset.
The counter, to the best of their ability, counts, identifies, and records flight direction for all birds determined to be in active migration (unidentified birds are recorded to the most precise taxon possible). Birds are detected and identified visually and/or aurally. The counter is experienced with both identifying all regularly-occurring eastern North American birds in flight and with accurately counting large volumes of birds in a professional capacity.
Data is entered live in the field on an electronic tablet via the Trektellen database, and each entry is time-stamped for further precision. Additional individual data such as age and sex is recorded when possible. Weather data is recorded at the beginning of the count, at sunrise, and at the beginning of each hour following sunrise to ensure correlation of count and weather data throughout the observation period. Additionally, weather and, potentially, radar data for the previous night is recorded in a separate database by the counter. Following the conclusion of the season, the counter will prepare a full report summarizing the season efforts.
The counter also engages with on-site visitors in a public outreach capacity by providing information and education on the count background, count methods, BSBO's mission, and BSBO's research goals and by answering general questions from the public as required.
The specifics of the count and weather protocols have been developed to ensure long-term viability as a standardized dataset.
Research interests
The count in and of itself serves as a valuable resource for examining data on not only migratory passerines (as in most morning flight counts) but also for any other migratory species that occur at the site (waterfowl, raptors, other nongame species). In terms of passerines, the geography of the count site is ideal for an exploration of migratory decision-making in terms of flight orientation.
The dataset generated from the count will also serve as supplementary data for the long-running banding dataset at BSBO’s Navarre Marsh site, serving as a useful comparison of active and stopover migrants on any given day of migration. The addition of migration count data holds potential for investigation of species-specific microhabitat use, enhanced departure/arrival data, and an in-depth comparison of detection rates between multiple survey methods. These data in combination could be used not only to develop research for publication but also to better inform regional habitat management plans, wind-energy siting concerns, and a myriad of direct and measurable conservation actions.
Additional areas of interest discussed in the initial meeting include supplementing the count and weather data with precise radar data from an on-site unit as well as double-sampling the count with a passive acoustic monitoring protocol.
The dataset generated from the count will also serve as supplementary data for the long-running banding dataset at BSBO’s Navarre Marsh site, serving as a useful comparison of active and stopover migrants on any given day of migration. The addition of migration count data holds potential for investigation of species-specific microhabitat use, enhanced departure/arrival data, and an in-depth comparison of detection rates between multiple survey methods. These data in combination could be used not only to develop research for publication but also to better inform regional habitat management plans, wind-energy siting concerns, and a myriad of direct and measurable conservation actions.
Additional areas of interest discussed in the initial meeting include supplementing the count and weather data with precise radar data from an on-site unit as well as double-sampling the count with a passive acoustic monitoring protocol.
Communications and outreach
The count will serve as a valuable tool for education and outreach within the scope of Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Measurable impacts will include the live-streamed and publicly-accessible count species data and totals, which will be linked directly to the BSBO website, as well as social media outreach and on-site public engagement. These interactions will help engage the community as well as serve as a supplement for the annual Biggest Week In American Birding festival.
Externally, the count provides an opportunity for BSBO to be a leader in morning flight count development across the Great Lakes, as the few organizations in the region that are beginning similar efforts do not appear to be working collaboratively or with a focus on standardizing data for research use. The count and a release of protocols and data implications could invite collaboration from other research and conservation organizations that may already have ongoing migration count efforts but will also enable other organizations to develop other counts and work in collaboration to potentially furnish a multi-site dataset that could be used for region-wide analysis and further research avenues. Migration counts are a relatively low-cost and largely effective survey method for many sites and are more feasible for many organizations to start up than banding stations or other methods.
Externally, the count provides an opportunity for BSBO to be a leader in morning flight count development across the Great Lakes, as the few organizations in the region that are beginning similar efforts do not appear to be working collaboratively or with a focus on standardizing data for research use. The count and a release of protocols and data implications could invite collaboration from other research and conservation organizations that may already have ongoing migration count efforts but will also enable other organizations to develop other counts and work in collaboration to potentially furnish a multi-site dataset that could be used for region-wide analysis and further research avenues. Migration counts are a relatively low-cost and largely effective survey method for many sites and are more feasible for many organizations to start up than banding stations or other methods.
References
B. Van Doren, K. Horton, P. Stepanian, D. Mizrahi, A. Farnsworth (2016). “Wind drift explains the reoriented morning flights of songbirds.” Behavioral Ecology 27:4 (1122-1131). https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/27/4/1122/1744263
P. Tuck, D. Gesicki, V. Bingman (2018). “Morning flight behavior of nocturnally migrating birds along the western basin of Lake Erie.” Journal of Field Ornithology. 89:2 (140-148). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jofo.12252
P. Tuck, D. Gesicki, V. Bingman (2018). “Morning flight behavior of nocturnally migrating birds along the western basin of Lake Erie.” Journal of Field Ornithology. 89:2 (140-148). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jofo.12252
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About Our Morning Flight Counter, Gautam Apte
Gautam is a lifelong birder and field biologist originally from Cleveland, Ohio. After spending his early years enjoying the spectacles of fall waterbirds and spring songbirds along the shores of Lake Erie, he went on to earn his degree in Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife Science from The Ohio State University. He has worked with birds on a number of projects all over the United States but is most interested in studying the various mechanisms of migration in all its forms. Most recently, he completed his third season counting the autumn songbird migration at Cape May, New Jersey. Gautam is thrilled to be returning to Ohio for the spring to observe one of the continent's great migratory spectacles once again. |