This morning, I huddled against the lee side of the Waterbird Shack: chilly, wet, panning a scope mounted on a shaking tripod in a mostly futile attempt to distill migrating waterbirds from mammoth swells. Lake Superior has certainly outdone herself in welcoming me back to her shores. Though I was gone three and a half [...]
Since the last blog post, the migration past the point slowed down to a crawl. There was even a day that we didn't count a single Red-necked Grebe! But, migration heated back up on the Aug. 30 when we recorded 2,269 Red-necked Grebe. We've also seen some good Common Tern flights. The best flight consisted [...]
The fall waterbird count kicked off on the morning of Aug. 15. We've been lucky to start the season off with relatively good numbers throughout the first week. As usual for August, our most common migrant has been the Red-necked Grebe. We've counted a total of 3,292 with a peak of 809 on Aug. 20. [...]
Well, we keep plugging away. We've been able to band all 35 nights of the season so far, and we are admittedly wearing a bit thin some nights. Thankfully, it has been a relatively cool summer and the mosquitoes have not been too bad recently. As is expected at this time of the season, the [...]
Although the juvenile Saw-whets have become more regular since our last post, we are still waiting for them to pick up more. The weather conditions have not been great for migration, but we have banded all 19 nights since we started.The highest nightly total for juveniles so far has been four, on both the 11th [...]
The first juvenile Saw-whet of the season. Well, despite getting a Northern Saw-whet and two Long-eareds on the first net check of the season, we have had a relatively slow start to the summer season. We started on July 1 and have banded 30 Saw-whets and three Long-eareds so far. The first two [...]
When I took on Whitefish’s spring waterbird count, there were several avian phenomena I looked forward to: Red-throated Loons mixing with the Commons in a ratio not found elsewhere in Michigan. Big scoter flights. The possibility of southwest winds and the vagrant birds they might bring. One of the things I looked forward to the [...]
Lazuli Bunting - Birdathon Birds - Black-backed Woodpecker - Northern Cardinal The biggest news out of Whitefish Point this season is the first Point and third state record for a Lazuli Bunting observed on May 28, 2019, found by Point regular Dan Elliot. Lazuli Bunting are a western species that are strongly related to Indigo [...]
Highlights: Warblers - Chimney Swift - Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Blue Jay A Yellow-rumped Warbler hawking (catching flying insects on the wing). Photo by Charlotte R. Catalano Warbler migration has finally begun in earnest! Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Wilson’s, and Canada Warbler have all shown in the [...]
It hardly seems possible, but Whitefish’s Waterbird Count is nearing the end of its penultimate week. And, what a week it has been! Some of the migration moments I’ve been anticipating since season’s start have happened, and they’ve been well worth the wait. These include: The Scoter flight: this time of year, hundreds of White-winged [...]
