Long-eared Owl The week started off slow as a weather system brought wind and rain to Whitefish Point, causing us to shut down early and start late on multiple nights. Our luck turned a corner on Sunday — the breeze lightened, and the weather cleared, allowing us to capture six Northern Saw-whet Owls, [...]
LeConte's Sparrow (left) & Harris's Sparrow (right) Highlights: Sedge Wren, Harris’s Sparrow, LeConte’s Sparrow, & Black-backed Woodpecker Songbird activity in the woods has been particularly good the last few days. Warbler migration may be winding down, but we've continued to see good numbers, along with decent diversity this week. The sparrow migration has [...]
Waterbird Highlights: Here are some notable sightings during the sixth week of the waterbird count (Sept. 17–23). We spotted 47 species of waterbirds, of which 19 (+1 taxa) were waterfowl (Anseriformes). The level of abundance per day is sporadic, but there have been some exciting mixed flocks of dabbler ducks and diving ducks during [...]
The fall owl banding began the night of Sept. 15 with four Northern Saw-whet Owls banded — a nice start to the season. Since then, only two Northern Saw-whet Owls have been banded, for a first week total of six. This can likely be attributed to the south winds that have been prevalent the [...]
WPBO's third Ash-throated Flycatcher I'm just going to start by acknowledging that flipping my schedule from night to day, plus some technical issues on my part has me playing catch up on blogging. There's nothing for it at this point but to just jump in. There have already been some exciting vagrants this [...]
Waterbird Highlights: During this week’s count (Sept. 10–16), the count had 50 species of waterbirds, and 19 of these species were shorebirds! A Buff-breasted Sandpiper still managed to make an appearance throughout the count while intermixed between other Calidris shorebirds. One of the final birds for the count this week was a fantastic stopover of a Stilt Sandpiper in the [...]
Waterbird Highlights: During this week’s count (Sept. 3–9), the count had 42 species of waterbirds! Aug. 5 was an exciting day where we had 32 of the 42 species of waterbirds seen during the count. There were quite a few highlights that day, such as large numbers of Pluvialis plovers (Black-bellied/golden-plover sp.), several Black [...]
Waterbird Highlights: This week (Aug. 28–Sept. 2), 36 species (+1 other taxa) of waterbirds have passed by the Point. If you have been keeping up with Dunkadoo numbers, you are probably wondering where all the Red-necked Grebes are! We are wondering the same thing. This time last year, there had already been over 5,000 individuals; this [...]
