This past week featured the first signs of the winter to come, with the first day of snow flurries on Oct. 28 and accumulating snow each day since Oct. 30. This made for some beautiful late fall scenes while walking through the pine woods out to the waterbird shack each morning. This week also featured a few strong flights accompanying the front passage early in the week. The week ended with a switch being flipped between classic October species tapering off and the end-of-season species (like goldeneye, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Lesser Scaup) suddenly pushing in.
A snowy Halloween scene at the waterbird shack. Photo by Mike McBrien
October 26 and 27 featured strong flights of the classic second-half of October species, with good showings of Long-tailed Ducks, White-winged Scoters, and Red-breasted Mergansers. The 26th was a stormy day, pouring for the entire second half of it. However, the morning was quite productive, with three Pacific Loons and over 2,000 Red-breasted Mergansers. The 27th was similar, with two more Pacific Loons, 319 Common Loons, and over 1,300 Red-breasted Mergansers.
A flock of Long-tailed Ducks wheels by high over Lake Superior. Photo by Mike McBrien
On Oct. 29 and 30, it was apparent a switch had been suddenly flipped, with the first triple-digit days of Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead as well as noticeably higher numbers of Lesser Scaup pushing through and outnumbering Greater Scaup. Hooded Mergansers also clearly started to move, with 32 on the 30th. The count also featured a Snow Goose on both Oct. 29 and 30, plus a flock of eight Tundra Swans on Oct. 30.
An adult “blue morph” Snow Goose stopped by the Point for two days this past week. Photo by Mike McBrien
The week came to a close with solid numbers of these species, as well as a very strong push of Hooded Mergansers on Oct. 31 with 103. This represents a new daily high count for Whitefish Point! On Nov. 1, a single Ruddy Duck was recorded migrating past with a flock of Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye. This is only the Point’s third record. The species is a regular bird throughout much of Michigan but exceptionally rare locally around the Point. Based on the number of prior records over the past 35 years of the fall count, this may be the “rarest” waterbird seen so far this fall.
A large flock of Red-breasted Mergansers passes by in front of a Canadian freight vessel. Photo by Mike McBrien
In other notes, flocks of Snow Buntings can be seen around the Point, the lawn edges of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, and lining the shoulders of the roads out to the Point. Winter finches continue to push in, with growing numbers of Common Redpolls and the first-of-season Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. Four Short-eared Owls were seen in passing around the Point this week, and among the late lingering passerines, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has been hanging around.
~Mike McBrien
2023 Fall Waterbird Counter
Featured photo: A flock of Red-breasted Mergansers and White-winged Scoters migrates past. Photo by Mike McBrien
