Black Swamp Bird Observatory
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Time to read 7 min
Magnolia Warbler migrating through Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, part of what remains of the Great Black Swamp in Ohio.
The Great Black Swamp once covered 300,000 acres along the Lake Erie shore, stretching from what is now northwest Ohio into Indiana. It was a region of thick trees rising out of murky water, where the Ottawa people hunted the abundant wildlife but otherwise kept their distance. Deep mud and relentless swarms of mosquitoes discouraged human settlement.
For birds, though, the swamp’s geography, plant life and even mosquitos were ideal. Its location along the inland sea that is Lake Erie made it an important stop during spring and fall migration. It’s where Kirtland’s Warblers, not yet driven to the brink of extinction by habitat loss, refueled on their journeys between the Bahamas and fire-renewed jack pine forests farther north. Other migrants ended their flights there, nesting in the swamp’s interior or the beaches, grasslands, and damp prairies that surrounded it.
Clearing with oaks at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. Photo courtesy of Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO).
Magee Marsh with power station in the distance.
In the 1800s, farmers, many of them immigrants from Germany and Ireland, began to clear and drain the swamp. By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the Great Black Swamp was gone, converted to farmland or swallowed up by urban development. Drive the two-lane roads that crisscross the rural sections of the region today, and the view is of tidy farms, flat terrain, and omnipresent drainage ditches.
But even as the Great Black Swamp was cleared and drained, the birds kept coming. Their inborn maps continued to draw them to the remaining patches of habitat. These areas were the hardest to drain and the most susceptible to flooding, their initial preservation less a matter of choice than necessity. Eventually sportsmen’s clubs from the booming cities of Detroit and Cleveland took note and began to acquire the unfarmable land; later, much of it would become public. The names of these remnants speak to the region’s history, from its original people to the farming families that settled there: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Metzger Marsh, Magee Marsh.
Boardwalks at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area give visitors access to the wetlands and wildlife. Photo courtesy of BSBO.
Yellow Warbler perched at boardwalk.
In 1992, a group of biologists studying bird migration along the Lake Erie shore founded the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), its name a tribute to the region’s original landscape. Migration research remains central to the organization, with recent work documenting how birds move through the Lake Erie region in distinct waves.
Over time, though, BSBO has become increasingly involved in public education and outreach. Kimberly Kaufman, the observatory’s executive director since 2009, had a hand in that. A self-taught ornithologist, Kaufman puts a high value on the BSBO’s scientific work. “If only one thing could continue, it would be the research into understanding migration,” she says. “But if you don’t tell anyone what you’re doing, your work won’t have an impact,” she adds. “There’s so much more you can do to change the world through education and outreach.” Her goal is to integrate science and human connection to make BSBO, in her words, “a scientific organization with heart.”
BSBO's migration research includes banding and outfitting birds like this Prothonotary Warbler with a lightweight radio tracker. Photo courtesy of BSBO.
Visitors learn about BSBO's migration research at a banding station. Photo courtesy of BSBO.
The Biggest Week in Birding Festival includes bird outings throughout the area and other programs. Photo courtesy of Kati Barricklow.
That vision is on full display during BSBO’s Biggest Week in American Birding festival, which Kaufman launched in 2010. Held annually over 10 days in May, the Biggest Week is a celebration of all migratory birds, but especially of warblers. Singing from the canopy, creeping along the ground, or showing off their yellow, orange, and green plumage at eye level, warblers have become emblematic of the festival. But they’re not the only stars of the show. Orioles and tanagers vie with them for the “most colorful” title, while slow-moving cuckoos and skulking rails challenge even the keenest eyes. During the festival, the famous Magee Marsh boardwalk, just down the road from BSBO’s offices, buzzes with low human voices that blend accents and languages from around the country and the world. The throngs of excited birders that occasionally obstruct the path? Kaufman, with characteristic ebullience, describes those scenes as “bird snuggles,” not blockages.
Even as the festival celebrates birds, it also celebrates and fosters connections among people. This is not an accident. Everything about the festival was designed, Kaufman says, not just to witness peak migration, but to build a community around that experience. “I poured myself into every aspect of the inaugural festival. Being kind and respectful of one another was baked into the culture from the start—for example, in the ways volunteers are trained. There’s a warm and welcoming vibe here.”
It’s a vibe that resonates with both hardcore birders and the bird-curious. Jamie Cunningham, now BSBO’s education director, wasn’t a birder when she stumbled upon one of the first festivals. It was Mother’s Day weekend, and she had planned a family zoo outing—until a detour to see an exhibit of rehabilitated raptors led to a further detour to the Magee Marsh boardwalk. The first thing Cunningham noticed was the packed parking lot. She wondered, what was going on? She found the answer on the boardwalk, crowded with festivalgoers, where brightly colored warblers fluttered directly in front of her. She didn’t know what any of them were, or that so many kinds of birds even existed, but she was hooked.
Cunningham isn’t the only person to be hooked by the festival. Many participants return year after year, with more than one describing it as a birding family reunion.
Black-throated Green Warbler at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.
The Biggest Week casts a wide net by design, drawing participants from every state and more than 50 countries, across all ages and levels of interest and experience. Other BSBO education and outreach initiatives are more focused, with a particular emphasis on young people. Through family programs and hands-on activities, BSBO has introduced thousands of local kids to birds, the wonders of migration, and the importance of conservation. But its most ambitious and innovative youth program came about by accident, when a young girl asked Kaufman, then BSBO’s education director, if there were any programs for teens like her.
There aren’t, Kaufman had to tell her; followed by, “let’s make one.”
That was the birth of the Ohio Young Birders Club. When Kaufman looked for other programs that might serve as models, she found there weren’t any. Rather than attempt to guess what teenage birders might want in an organization, Kaufman sat down with six young people in May of 2006 and, together, created the club. From the beginning it was not just a club of and for teens, but also by them. The model has been so successful that BSBO has helped young birders in more than 20 other states launch their own clubs.
Ohio Young Birders Club outing. Photo courtesy of BSBO.
Kaufman laughs as she recounts her misunderstanding of one early proposal, a birding conference for young people. Excited, she rattled off a list of potential presenters, until the teens cut her off. They weren’t interested in sitting in the audience; they wanted to be up front making the presentations. And that’s exactly what happened. The conference has become an annual event, showcasing original research on topics ranging from nocturnal flight calls to the development of a bot that tracks window strikes.
Twenty years after the club’s creation, several early club members have gone on to pursue careers in conservation. One is Auriel Fournier, a PhD ornithologist and the first female director of the Forbes Biological Station in Illinois, where she leads a team of scientists and graduate students researching wetland birds and habitat management. Fournier describes her experience as a founding member of the Ohio Young Birders Club as formative. “BSBO supported us in a unique way,” she says. “It was truly driven by students, and helped us gain confidence and develop skills.”
Scarlet Tanager at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.
Other BSBO youth programs have also changed lives. Katie Ware is a new PhD in biological sciences, whose research looks at the interrelationships between birds and changing landscapes. As a girl, Ware participated in several BSBO programs, including a day camp for middle schoolers. She recalls those early experiences vividly: sketching from nature, seeing her first Carolina Wren, investigating water quality in the Crane Creek estuary. Her most visceral memory is of Kaufman demonstrating bird banding. She still remembers the small table set up in a meadow, the birds’ tails sticking out of the cones in which they were placed to be weighed.
Ohio Young Birders Club in the field, birding and learning about migration research.
Photos courtesy of BSBO.
Today, Ware bands birds herself as a BSBO volunteer. There’s something about the place, she says, that keeps her wanting to go back. “It’s an organization that’s always been so engrained in the community and the region, with incredible partnerships. And it’s always accessible; there’s no barrier of, ‘Oh, you’re not a good enough birder.’”
As she embarks on her academic career, Ware credits BSBO with both instilling and sustaining her love of birds. “It’s easy to lose sight of why you love the thing you’re studying,” she says. “But they’re so good at keeping people curious and passionate.” Fournier agrees. While her fellow members have pursued a variety of career paths, they all continue to love birds.
Kaufman emphasizes that people protect what they care about. In her view, connecting people with birds is a vital first step to conservation. The researchers and conservation professionals that BSBO has mentored over the years, and the even greater number of individuals it has inspired to action in their communities, attest to the power of that idea. She also recognizes that not everyone has the urge to become an activist, or even the capacity to take personal measures like buying bird-friendly coffee. That’s not a failure, but rather part of the work.
“If we can bring joy to a person’s life through birds,” she says, “the world is a better place.”
Common Yellowthroat at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.
