Highlights: Pacific Loon, Sabine's Gull, Red & Red-necked Phalaropes and Grasshopper Sparrow After an extended period of easterly and southerly winds, a short period of west and north winds finally stirred things up a bit bringing some excitement to the Point. As per usual, many of the recent highlights came from the waterbird [...]
For the fall season, October is usually the best month at Whitefish Point in terms of quality and quantity. And this October has been no different! Scoters and scaup have been moving by in good numbers while rarities such as Red and Red-necked Phalarope and Sabine's Gull have been recorded. The woods have also produced; [...]
Sometimes it feels like a completely different world being out here in the darkness; very dream-like. You get to see things and hear things you might not always see or hear when the sun is up which of course helps us stay awake. These night-time critters that occasionally greet us are fascinating, to say the [...]
Highlights: Lesser Black-backed Gull & Northern Goshawk Well, we had to work a few things out to get the blog going again, so thank you for your patience. Before getting to the more recent sightings I should mention two of the highlights so far this season. A Townsend's Solitaire was found [...]
The fall owl banding season is well under way after opening nets for our 17th night of the season. The season started off fast for the first night we opened nets with 11 birds, but had slowed down to many nights with 3 to 5 birds. However on the 2nd of October we reached our [...]
It's been a relatively slow September in terms of numbers of migrating waterbirds. But, the number of jaegers coming by the point has been great! So, if you're a true "lakewatcher" this is a great season for you. We're at about 45-50 total, including evening flights. Luckily, all three species have been represented during the [...]
The fall waterbird count at Whitefish Point kicked off on August 15th. The count has had it's ups and downs. August was well above average in terms of numbers but the south winds to start September, have slowed migration. The August highlights included a flock of 5 Stilt Sandpiper (which tied the season record, in [...]
Here are the totals for all of the waterbirds counted during the standardized 8-hour count at Whitefish Point in Spring 2016 (April 15 – May 31): 1 Snow Goose 3697 Canada Goose (above average seasonal total) 4 Trumpeter Swan 3 Trumpeter/Tundra Swan 18 Wood Duck 4 Gadwall 1 Eurasian Wigeon (first WPBO record; present at [...]
Photo by Sara Harrington Over the fourth of July weekend, the Piping Plover chicks at Whitefish Point hatched! Sara Harrington is providing short presentations on the life history and recovery efforts of this endangered species. The presentations will be followed by a walk out to the beach to try to spot Whitefish Point’s own [...]
Greetings! This is the Whitefish Point sightings summary for May 13-21st. It’s safe to say that the weather has not been our friend this month. Primarily north winds have continued until the 18th, and last weekend had some snow every day! Migration for most species has been slow, certainly slower that what should be expected [...]