Greetings! I would like to start this week’s report off again with a plea for support for our annual Birdathon! We are now taking pledges for the event where we head out to see how many bird species we can find in a 24 hour period to raise funds for the count and banding projects here at WPBO. Please consider making a pledge to donate which you can do by clicking here.
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White-winged Scoters by Skye Haas
Duck composition has certainly changed since the last report. Dabblers have mostly migrated through by this date, but a flock of 21 NORTHERN SHOVELERS on the 10th was a decent sized flock for the spring. Good numbers of GREATER SCAUP have been observed recently with day counts of 83 on the 9th and 54 on the 12th. But at this time in May, the duck action is centered on the annual flights of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS. There has been several good flight days for these handsome robust ducks with 155 recorded on both the 12th and the 18th. Three other days this week recorded totals of just under a hundred White-wings and hopefully we will still have a couple big pushes of them yet to come! Observed in much smaller numbers but still being seen regularly have been handfuls of SURF SCOTERS including many breeding plumaged drakes. A peak flight of 27 were recorded on the 18th.
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Spruce Grouse by Skye Haas
Not recorded every spring, a BLACK SCOTER was observed on the 16th with a pair seen on the 19th. LONG-TAILED DUCKS have been having a good spring with 659 recorded on the 16th. A number of other days have had counts in the low hundreds in the last week. While commonly seen in nearby birding locales, a hen SPRUCE GROUSE on the 13th was an uncommon treat for the Point.
It looks like yet another year of a low count for COMMON LOONS with the peak date on the 9th tallying in only 276. A disappointing total for a species that has 1000+ individual bird days recorded here in the past. More encouraging was a great RED-THROATED LOON flight also on the 9th, with 209 Red-throats observed. A rare treat for Whitefish Point has been a GREEN HERON observed on the 17-18th. Equally delightful, even if a more common occurrence was a SORA showing well along the boardwalk to the beach on the 17th.
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Sora by Skye Haas
After a long period of incremental increases in the numbers of shorebirds here at the Point, the numbers and diversity rapidly escalated in the last few days. BLACK-BELLIED, SEMIPALMATED and PIPING PLOVERS have all been observed regularly, and on the 18th, a breeding plumaged AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER was observed. Also on the 18th were the first sightings of WHIMBREL, RUDDY TURNSTONE, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. 104 DUNLIN and 63 LEAST SANDPIPERS were also observed on the 18th, with a total of 14 species of shorebird recorded. Very exciting and not recorded every spring was a breeding plumaged PARASITIC JAEGER seen on the evening the 9th.
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Dunlin and Sanderling by Skye Haas
There have been some great flights of BONAPARTE’S GULLS recently with robust totals of 787 recorded on the 13th, and 564 on the 16th. A young ICELAND GULL was observed on the 16th. But certainly the capper of the count, at least in regards to larids was an adult SLATY-BACKED GULL found on the evening on the 19th at the tip of Whitefish Point! This unexpected sighting is the first Point record of this wandering Siberian species. CASPIAN TERNS have been regularly observed and COMMON TERNS first appeared on the 16th, with 67 counted on the 18th.
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Swainson’s Hawk by Josh Haas
The Hawk Count has entered into a on/off again wind-down for the season, but there have still been some great days up on the deck, with surely some big days yet to come for young Broad-wings. What will likely be our season high count for BROAD-WINGED HAWK occurred on the 13th with 1,430 tallied in! SWAINSON’S HAWKS were recorded on the 10th and 12th; hopefully another sighting of this western visitor will occur this spring! Check out Josh Haas’s (author of the video guide Hawks on the Wing) great video capture of the young Swainson’s on the 12th here! Another rare visitor from the west was an immature KRIDER’S RED-TAILED HAWK on the 11th. GOLDEN EAGLES have been scarce with 2 seen on the 14th.
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Long-eared Owl by Skye Haas
A few NORTHERN GOSHAWKS and COOPER’S HAWKS have been observed recently as the 19th, and on the 11th, we had our third thousand plus SHARP-SHINNED HAWK day of the season with 1,367 tallied in! AMERICAN KESTRELS continue to have a great season with another 32 counted on the 10th. We are inching closer to hitting the 700 mark for the season, something that has only occurred a few times here at the Point. And PEREGRINE FALCONS have been seen near daily, but typically only 1-2 birds a day. The Owl Banders continue to have a fantastic season, you can see their most recent results here. Very shocking to see was a day-flying LONG-EARED OWL kettling with Red-tails and Broad-wings on the 12th over the harbor!
But of course the most excited avian feature here this week is the mass return of neotropical migrants to the Point. Some of the highlights include a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO on the 17th, our first RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS on the 16th; LEAST FLYCATCHERS back on the 11th, with a big push on the 17th.
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Black-billed Cuckoo by Skye Haas
GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHERS on the 17th, EASTERN KINGBIRDS on the 16th, BLUE-HEADED VIREO on the 15th, and PHILADELPHIA VIREO on the 18th. Increasing in recent years, but still rather uncommon at Whitefish was the arrival of BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER on the 12th, with singles on subsequent dates afterwards and a pair on the 18th. SWAINSON’S THRUSH arrived on the 16th, VEERY on the 17th and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH on the 18th. Not a new arrival, but EASTERN BLUEBIRDS have been prominent in the morning flights with a peak of 58 on the 16th. An expected low density migrant to the shores of Superior was a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD present the 17th-19th. The first arrival of CEDAR WAXWING occurred on the 17th, while what is likely our last BOHEMIAN WAXWING sighting was on the 12th.
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Bay-breasted Warbler by Skye Haas
Warbler arrivals as following NASHVILLE on the 9th; BLACK-AND-WHITE on the 11th; BLACK-THROATED BLUE on the 12th; TENNESSEE, ORANGE-CROWNED, CAPE MAY, NORTHERN PARULA, YELLOW, and CHESTNUT-SIDED on the 13TH; MAGNOLIA, BAY-BREASTED and BLACKBURIAN on the 15th, OVENBIRD on the 16th; NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, AMERICAN REDSTART and WILSON’S on the 17th, BLACKPOLL on the 18th; and CANADA WARBLER on the 19th.
AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS have lingered surprisingly late, with the most recent sighting being the 16th. CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS have been seen regularly at the Owl’s Roost feeders and less frequently at the Hawk Deck. Large numbers of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS arrived on the 13th and 18th. The first SCARLET TANAGER was observed on the 17th, while the first ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS and BALTIMORE ORIOLE occurred on the 16th. BOBOLINKS appeared on the 10th. Getting late for such numbers were 324 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS on the 10th and 37 on the 16th. Finches have been slowing down over all, but PINE SISKINS and EVENING GROSBEAK flights have been augmented by the return of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHS. Getting late were 2 COMMON REDPOLLS and a few WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS on the 15th.
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Northern Parula by Skye Haas
To see daily totals visit our live data feed at the Dunkadoo website for the Hawk Count here, or the Waterbird Count here. You can also visit our ebird count profile to get ebird lists of the counts as well as the general birding efforts of the staff here.
*** Please note we have changed our owl banding visitation schedule: Visitors may observe owl banding on Friday and Saturday evenings from dusk to midnight, weather permitting. Beginning at the end of April, the Owl’s Roost Gift Shop will be open on select Friday and Saturday evenings as well. If you have a large group (5 or more), please call (517) 580-7364 or email events@michiganaudubon.org to make arrangements.
I really want to know what brand and model camera you use, Skye. I love your photos and would like to get a camera in the future for bird photography.