By Skye Haas, 2018 Spring Field Ornithologist
Hello everyone, here is the weekly sightings report for March 22-29. Aside from a few brief days of a welcomed warm-up, it remains very wintery up here at Whitefish Point. There has been some snow melt, and while the bay is still locked in ice, the lake is starting to open up. However, the upcoming forecast is not exactly encouraging for the next several days with strong north winds and new snow coming in for the weekend.
But we certainly enjoyed the few days of south winds and the new spring birds they brought. A few new species of waterbirds have arrived; CANADA GOOSE was first seen on March 25, while a lone TRUMPETER SWAN was observed swimming off the tip on March 28. MALLARDS have also been observed flying past the hawk watch, with the first sighting occurring on March 26. While SPRUCE GROUSE are local breeders, they are not seen every season at the actual Point, and the discovery of a female near the harbor on the March 26 was a good find!
Adult Northern Goshawk, Photo Skye Haas
A number of new species of raptors for the season have been recorded this week. TURKEY VULTURE was first seen on March 25, while a male NORTHERN HARRIER was seen coursing up the bayside beach on March 28, AMERICAN KESTREL on March 25, and MERLIN on March 28. Eagles made a decent showing this week with around a dozen BALD EAGLES seen on three different days this week. GOLDEN EAGLES continue to trickle on through with 13 birds recorded over the course of the week. NORTHERN GOSHAWKS have been having a better than average season so far and we have recorded 24 of these awesome predators this year. There have yet to be any other species of accipiters yet, and not too many buteos yet either. A handful of RED-TAILED HAWKS have been seen and a couple of RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS, but no Rough-legs.
Common Redpoll, Photo Skye Haas
New songbird arrivals include AMERICAN ROBIN, COMMON GRACKLE, and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD on March 26, BOHEMIAN WAXWING on March 27, and DARK-EYED JUNCO on March 29. And finally, while the finch show has been slowed for the last few days, numbers of these northern nomads were strong for several days last week, particularly for COMMON REPOLLS of which we are currently just shy of 5000 birds in these first two weeks of counting, quite the eclipse of our 3,400 Redpolls in the 2017 spring season. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS also continued to show well for several days; our season total so far for them is at a robust 1,653! We only recorded 98 for the entirety of last spring.
*** 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. Due to the snow conditions, the net lane trails are off-limits to foot traffic until the snow melts to keep the trails safe for the Owl Banders skiing in the dark of night. If you have a large group (5 or more), please call (517) 580-7364 or email events@michiganaudubon.org to make arrangements.
