For those of you who missed it, this past Saturday was International Migratory Bird Day, and with strong north winds once again bringing migration to a halt, I had plenty of time for reflection. Once upon a time, hawk migration season meant it was time to go out and shoot as many hawks as possible. [...]
Lines of ducks stream through the sky. By day, I search for them. (For most of the last week — a cheek-numbing stretch of demoralizing north winds — it’s seemed that I seek far more than I find.) Then, by night, when I close my eyes and drift off, the ducks reappear, twisting their way [...]
We’re effectively stuck in repeat mode when it comes to giving general updates on the owl migration. Northern Saw-whet Owls have continued at a steady trickle, and we have not banded a Boreal Owl since April 25. So, it has been the Long-eared Owls that have kept us busy this past week. We’re reaching the [...]
The Sharp-shinned Hawk. Recently, I was asked what their name means. Seeing that "sharpies" (my preferred nom de plume) do have an awfully strange name, I found it to be a fine question, the answer to which is fairly straightforward. They have sharp shins. Granted, this does sound like a punchline to a corny joke, [...]
Loon migration at WPBO is currently approaching full throttle — today, May 1, I had what is, so far, the season’s highest daily counts of Common (277) and Red-throated (38). With weather and season being what they are, I anticipate that Common Loons will peak within the next few days. (Last year, that happened on [...]
Not a lot has changed since our last post in regard to the owl migration. We continue to be surprised by the low number of Northern Saw-whet Owls. Nightly totals for saw-whets once again failed to hit double digits during the past week. On the plus side, we did recently band two more Boreal Owls. [...]
Four straight days of sunshine and superb raptor viewing has got me dancing jigs and whistling ditties on the ol' hawk deck. It truly would have been a perfect weekend to visit Whitefish Point for the annual Michigan Audubon Spring Fling, and probably one of the warmest and brightest in recent memory. Things have changed [...]
At the staff house this week, there’s been an ongoing, friendly debate. Rich, WPBO’s hawk counter, believes that I, the waterbird counter, have the worse end of the weather deal. I don’t think that I do. While I am stationed on the windswept beach, it’s really not that bad. The waterbird shack — save for [...]
Despite the fact that there have been a couple of recent nights when the weather conditions right here at the Point have provided us with some hope, it is clear that the wider weather patterns have not been to the owl's liking. Northern Saw-whet Owl numbers have continued to be very disappointing since our last [...]
The trees speak. Through a concerted effort of mystical orchestration, they take the wind and turn its voice into their own. It is a language I cannot interpret; no matter how hard I try, the rustling of branches remains unfathomable, and the message simply dissipates in the breeze. Still, as I watch the horizon for [...]
