Fall Waterbird Count- Arrival of the Geese (9/10-9/16)

This week on the waterbird count there were lots of South and East winds that kept waterbird numbers fairly low, with one exception. The big story for the week was the arrival of our migrant Canada Goose flocks. Before this week, we’d seen only 14 individuals. The floodgates opened just after sunrise on the morning of 9/11 when I picked up a flock of more than 100 geese over the distant hills in Canada. From there, the flocks just kept coming throughout the day! By the end we had tallied nearly 2,000 birds. One visiting birder joked that they were “just geese” until they flew halfway across the lake into US waters. These flocks were a fun challenge to count as lines of birds would appear in every direction and at every height. Frequently, the groups would fly very low to the surface of the lake and even land to rest in huge groups until flushed up by a passing freighter. I tried hard to pick out any different goose species, as they often mix together, but didn’t have any luck. Any other species of geese are more uncommon at Whitefish Point, but hopefully we’ll get a Snow Goose or Cackling Goose in the coming weeks.

Lines of Canada Geese. Photo by Frank Fabbro

Shorebird movements have slowed, as is expected later in the fall, but American Golden Plovers are still moving through. We observed these long-distance migrants on four different days this week with a group of 10 seen flying off the lake on 9/13 and an impressive flock of 39 birds on 9/16. The jaeger tally for the fall also continues to rise with 49 birds to date (a mix of unidentified, Parasitic, and one Long-tailed). On 9/10 we observed a good tern flight with 529 Common Terns bringing our season total up to 2,368 individuals. We’ll continue to scrutinize passing flocks with the hopes of picking out a rare Arctic Tern as the numbers of Common Terns begin to taper off. 

American Golden-Plover. Photo by Frank Fabbro

Despite the less-than-ideal winds this week, the number of loons we’re seeing is on the rise. Red-throated Loons tend to reach their peak in numbers before Common Loons and this week we counted 97 red-throats. They are quite fun to watch flapping across the lake into a headwind and jerking their necks up and down. We also had a nice push of Common Loons on 9/14 with a count of 72 individuals, bringing our season total to 541. This number should continue to grow but Common Loons don’t really migrate in large flocks the way other waterbirds do. Instead, the counter will record ones and twos throughout the day and over a full season those numbers really add up.

Common Loons in flight. Photo by Frank Fabbro

When waterbirds have been lacking, the songbirds moving past the count this week have been entertaining. Some of the most numerous birds streaming past have been species people don’t often think of as migrants. For the first month of the season we saw very few Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, and woodpeckers around the Point. Now as fall moves on the huge flocks of Blue Jays streaming by or the chattering groups of chickadees and woodpeckers that bounce along the shoreline are birds on the move. It’s not clear to me where these birds are coming from or going to, but it is clear that they are undergoing some dispersal or movement that might otherwise go undetected in areas with more resident birds and less visible migration. 

Ring-billed Gull. Photo by Frank Fabbro

These prolonged periods of warm southeast winds aren’t the most exciting for waterbird movement but when the weather inevitably does turns favorable it can make for some remarkable days. There should be lots of dabbling ducks getting ready to move and I’m optimistic with lots of birds backed up waiting for conditions to swing and it could produce some big flights. There is never a bad day to visit the point but any forecasted Northwest winds in the coming week could be a very good day to visit.

~Frank Fabbro, 2025 Fall Waterbird Counter

Featured Photo: Canada Geese