This past weekend, raptors seemingly forfeited the migratory flyaways in response to high Blue Jay traffic. Fred, a Broad-winged Hawk, who has been traveling this route for many years, had this to say: “What in tarnation!?! You know, I’ve been traveling this route for many years, and I have plum had it with the [...]
Happy migration, folks! Now you may be wondering, "What's with the title of this blog, 'Beautiful Noise?'" Isn't this supposed to be about waterbirds and waterbird migration? Isn't what I do, counting birds, all visual? Well, not exactly. Migration and bird ID is much more than just what an observer can pick up visually. [...]
The value of any migratory bird study is not based solely on numbers, but we can’t help celebrating setting a new North American banding record for Long-eared Owls. This is not only a celebration of the success of WPBO’s owl research but also an opportunity to express how rewarding it is to document the [...]
To some people, bird identification can seem like a mystical art. Those who master it have gleaned their knowledge from studying the arcane lore of bird ID, leafing through dusty tomes called field guides far into the wee hours of the morning. These masters have journeyed to distant lands, sought the unseekable, and made [...]
Migration is really an awe-inspiring thing when you get down to it. Myriad and multitudes of birds, all different shapes and sizes, migrate from their wintering grounds to their summer breeding grounds. Many birds undertake migrations of many hundreds or thousands of miles, and we can only wonder how the birds do it? Some [...]
Once again, the time between our blog posts produced a couple of productive nights before weather significantly slowed down the owl migration. The three nights after our last post produced 121 new owls, but these last three nights have produced seven. With the exception of the night of April 30, when we banded 39 [...]
Well, folks, it finally happened. Sharp-shinned Hawks dominated the skies, with nearly 3,000 birds zipping past the hawk deck this past weekend. Days like these are what hawk counters live for, and as each hawk passes, it takes with it a bit of the memory of hours upon hours of staring at the empty [...]
Many of you already know and respect just how crucial avian research is, but do you know what makes Whitefish Point Bird Observatory such an excellent place for these research efforts to take place? Tune in with us each Thursday in May to learn about topics inspired by our research at WPBO in a free [...]
Week two of the waterbird count, and it doesn't feel like two weeks have already passed. Days become irrelevant when counting migrating birds, and I find that I fall into a sort of rhythm and cadence with the birds. After all, the birds don't care what day it is, just that the weather is [...]
We appear to be in repeat mode regarding the timing of weekly weather patterns and their effect on the owl migration between our posts. Once again, this past week started with a few productive nights before unsettled weather rolled in mid-week to slow down the owl migration. The saw-whet migration was a bit disappointing [...]
