After lunch we want to explore a few of the booths of the festival exhibitors. Unfortunately most of them are closed and after some asking around we find out that most are opening only after three even though the official opening time is twelve. So we decide to linger around until then, as we will not be back another time, and to do a loop through Maumee Bay State Park looking for caches and birds. We start at the same parking lot as on the first day guided tour but today we want to check out what we can see on our own.
First birds we see are quite common ones like grackles and an American Goldfinch however we enjoy the fact that there are fewer people than we expected on the trails.
A couple times we try to shortcut the major trail however the side trails are either too wet or are entering tall grass so we always decide to return to the main paved trail.
This section has surprisingly few interesting birds with Catbirds and Yellow Warblers being the only ones that we see.
We then reach the lakeshore and hope that this will allow us to see more birds given that this is where most would be stopped by the lake. We are encouraged when we meet another group of birders that tell us that they have seen Canada and Mourning Warblers here, both would be very welcome for us. But first we enjoy the great views, it is quite a nice view in both directions.
While we do not see the Canada Warbler yet, we see our first Palm Warbler of the trip and quite a few Spotted Sandpipers which seem to be the most common sandpipers at this point.
Other birds are Egrets and Least Flycatchers some flying by us and some just resting in the trees.
Just as the trail turns inland we hear quite a few birds and decide to rest and look for warblers for a while. Soon we have our first success a pair of American Redstarts just jumping around in the bushes.
And then the birds keep coming including a Common Yellowthroat and a couple cardinals. But the major bonus is our second Canada Warbler, just a blur but at least we saw it clearly enough for it to count, again. And then we return back to the car and go to the festival site to buy the last souvenirs for the trip before continuing on to Metzger Marsh, another famous and busy birding area.
