One incredible aspect of fall migration here at Whitefish Point that makes it so unique is the annual passage of thousands of Red-necked Grebes. According to Behrens and Cox’s Seawatching: Eastern waterbirds in flight, the Point “is the best site in North America for Red-necked Grebe, with numbers that dwarf those counted at all other watch sites combined.” Since the count began in 1989 an average of 12,572 of these incredible birds have been tallied per season, with 18,577 recorded in 2010, the highest total on record. Many grebe species are seldom seen in flight — who can say they’ve ever watched the familiar Pied-billed on the wing? — so the spectacle of thousands of Red-neckeds migrating over Lake Superior in a single day is quite a treat.
On Tuesday I had my personal biggest day of Red-necked Grebe migration yet, with a total of 2,952! The day began looking like it would be a total bust for migration, with fog so thick that when I walked to the tip a bit over an hour into the count I could scarcely see the shack in the distance behind me. My stroll however turned up the biggest shorebird totals for the season, with 37 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 18 Sanderling and a pair of Least Sandpipers foraging in a tight group in the cobblestones. And I knew the forecast was on my side, with a cold front predicted to roll in soon.
A little after 11 AM the air began to stir. Before I knew it the lake began to heave and the gusts shook me around as I scanned. The fog blew away, and the grebes rode in with the passing front. Before the weather shifted I had seen only ten Red-necked Grebes (which was already double the total from the previous day!), but a few flocks appeared in quick succession, up to a dozen birds in some, and they added up to a respectable 74 individuals by noon. Well more than double that number, 172, zipped by the next hour. But it was from 1:00-2:00 that things really blew up, with a stunning total of 1,089 Red-necked Grebes that hour! And they just kept coming, with 491 the next hour, then 450, 467, 123, 64, and 28 the remaining hours of daylight.
A sheet of data from the biggest single-day count of Red-necked Grebes ever recorded. Hour 2, included here, was the peak, with 1,986 individuals.
My total of 2,952 was a personally unforgettable day, but a little more digging through past data shows my day would need to be more than twice as big in order to match the biggest day of Red-necked Grebe migration ever recorded. On August 22, 2003 right here at Whitefish Point the day’s total was an unbelievable 6,789! The second and third biggest days on record, also from WPBO fall counts, are 5,665 and 5,079 from late August days in 2003 and 1992, respectively (data from Seawatching: Eastern waterbirds in flight, Behrens and Cox).
As always, there’s way too much happening all the time here at the Point to possibly squeeze it into a single blog post. Keep up to date by following the count live, and view charts and tables of data from the full season at Dunkadoo!
Citation:
Behrens, K., & Cox, C. (2013). Seawatching: Eastern waterbirds in flight. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Gary Palmer
WPBO Fall Waterbird Counter
