It's been a fairly quiet week at the waterbird count, with conditions ranging from not-that-bad (light northerlies, dry skies, and little flocks of Common Mergansers) to pretty terrible (snow squalls, strong northerlies, zero visibility, zero avian movement). So it goes during spring on Superior. We've had our first White-winged Scoters (showing first on April [...]
After a period of about a week and a half of productive nights, the recent weather pattern significantly slowed things down this past week. Even during a few windows of more favorable weather conditions, the overall pattern kept the owl migration from kicking back in. This most productive night this past week was April [...]
The shift into the third week of the spring raptor count was characterized by a consistent block of north winds and precipitation, yielding 548 raptor migrants (compared to the previous week of 1,933). The first two days (April 18 and 19) saw blustery northwest winds churning in off of the lake with minimal raptor [...]
Typically, my spirits are quite light when I walk down the boardwalk toward the waterbird shack. However, when I headed that way a little before sunrise on April 15 — opening day for this count — I felt especially light: I was wearing only merino leggings, down pants, a fleece, a felted wool vest, [...]
This week started with a continuation of the nice push of owls we were experiencing when we gave our last update. The weather pattern eventually shifted, slowing things down later in the week. On April 12, we caught 95 owls, which will likely be the busiest night of the season, but you never know. [...]
The WPBO spring raptor count has continued to gain momentum over the past week. As we cross into the second half of April, nearly 2,800 migrant raptors have pushed north past the Point since this year’s count began. April 11 brought less favorable migration conditions as blustery northwest winds blew in off the lake [...]
The last few nights have been very eventful, both in challenging and rewarding ways. Those of you familiar with Whitefish Point at this time of the year will know that there is typically still lots of snow, and long stretches of the net lanes still have feet of snow over them. Our trails through [...]
While the WPBO spring raptor count began a bit later this year (historically starting on March 15), the first days of the 2023 count have already been plenty busy while generating some great flights. I arrived at the platform on the first morning of April 8 and was greeted with clear blue skies, sun, [...]
Like much of the region, we have experienced some serious winter weather over the past week. An ice storm and gale are occurring as I write this in the pre-dawn hours. The last time I stepped outside, bunches of pine needles and cones were dropping out of the trees, and I heard a loud [...]
This past week produced the first little push of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), spectacular northern lights, an unpredicted snowstorm, and the season's first Long-eared Owls (LEOW). On Thursday night, we were treated to some of the best northern lights we have ever seen here. It was impossible to capture in photos, but when they [...]
