The Biggest Week In American Birding (BWIAB) will be held My 3-12, 2024 in multiple locations around northwest Ohio.
The 10-day birding festival is timed to coincide with the peak of spring songbird migration through northwest Ohio and across Lake Erie.
Hosted by the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), the Biggest Week In American Birding attracts over 90,000 birders from all over the world
Northwestern Ohio is the Warbler Capital of the World, according to the Black Swamp Bird Observatory.
The Biggest Week in American Birding is headquartered at the Maumee Bay Lodge & Conference Center in Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, OH.
The southwestern shoreline of Lake Erie contains unique habitats that attract warblers and other songbirds as they undertake their annual spring migration.
Along the Ohio Lake Erie Birding Trail are popular birding areas including Howard Marsh Metropark, Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Maumee Bay State Park, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.
Birding tours and other experiences will be available throughout the region. New for 2024, a series of Biggest Week in American Birding field trip site guides provide information about festival bus tours, drive along tours, and other events.
A new BWIAB morning bird count will be held this year, weather permitting. The count will be open every morning at Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, on the dike path that separates the marsh from Lake Erie.
As birds move overhead, counters will be identifying them using flight calls, plumage, flight patterns, and photos. During the event, counters will record the species, numbers, and flight direction and provide live updates via the Trektellen count site.
Black Swamp Bird Observatory will offer accessible field trips during BWIAB. Accessible trips will be held at Meadowbrook Marsh in Lakeside, Ohio, and Metz Visitors Center and Nature Observatory at Wildwood Preserve Metropark in Toledo, Ohio.
The Biggest Week In American Birding generates an annual economic impact of more than $40 million.
For more information, visit www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com.
More Spring Birding Events
At Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, birders can take a wildlife drive from May 3-19, 2024. The route departs from the Visitor Center entrance road. Gates open at sunrise and close one hour prior to sunset. The seven mile Wildlife Drive is only open on specified dates which are weather dependent. For more information, call 419-898-0014 or visit the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge website.
At Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge, birders can take the Blue Goose Bus to experience the spring migration. Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge is located in what was the Great Black Swamp, a vast area of forests, wetlands, and grasslands.
The 2024 BWIAB festival coincides with a variety of spring birding events. Bird Day is May 4 in the USA. World Migratory Bird Day will be celebrated on May 11 and October 12.
After resting along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Erie, birds move north, many reaching the northern shore near Point Pele in Ontario.
The Friends of Point Pelee and Point Pelee National Park will host the 2024 Festival of Birds from May 1 to May 20. The festival will include birding hikes, lecture sessions, a 100 Species Challenge, and more.
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