conducted 2 hours after sunrise daily
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WPBO conducts a census program to document migrant passerines at the Point, as well as songbird populations throughout the Upper Peninsula. This program documents species distribution, abundance, and habitat use with an emphasis on rare species and other birds of special concern, including Neotropical migrants. The daily census information is used in combination with the hawk count and waterbird count to produce a Daily Estimated Total (DET) for all species migrating through Whitefish Point.
The goal of the DET is to quantify the chronology and volume of the bird migration at the Point. Interpreting the DET is not easy. Bird migration at the Point has many variables, such as weather, that complicate our data analysis. In addition, this methodology is not designed to count all individual birds, which would be impossible. Instead, it is designed to count species and their totals each year, in order to provide data on long term population trends. DET information has been gathered here at WPBO each spring and fall since 1979.
