Another week has passed at Whitefish Point, and we’re drawing closer to the peak season for waterbird movement. We had almost every kind of weather this week with still, sunny days full of heat shimmer to gusting SE winds with driving rain. We are waiting patiently for another cold front to bring us some ducks, but in the meantime, big pushes of strong flying loons battled headwinds and kept us busy at the count.
An early group of 3 Bohemian Waxwings caused some excitement on 9/22. Photo by Frank Fabbro
We had big numbers of loons in the air this week, both Common (379 individuals; with a single day high count of 210) and Red-throated (393 individuals; with a single day high count of 143). Some flocks cut overland behind the count station, some skimmed low over the water, and others still took high flight lines passing right overhead. The loons really force you to keep your head on a swivel, but I’ve enjoyed seeing flocks of 10-15 birds on a few occasions this week. Looking over the historical data, this seems to be an above-average total for the date. We’ll have to see if they continue to push through later into the fall or if we are now past the peak.
Red-throated Loon. Photo by Frank Fabbro
Flock of Red-throated Loons. Photo by Frank Fabbro
In other waterbird news, our week-long drought of jaegers was broken on 9/21 with a distant juvenile bird. This sighting was only a sign of things to come. The next day while Clay was counting he had six jaegers! What is even more impressive is that 4 of them were adult birds. Before this, we had only seen a single adult jaeger the entire season (a Long-tailed on 9/1). Yet again on the 22nd, one of the adult birds Clay observed was a striking Long-tailed Jaeger. The remaining adult jaegers that day were Parasitic.
Adult Parasitic Jaeger. Photo by Clay Bliznick
There were fewer geese moving this week, but we did have a decent flight of 1,257 Canada Geese on 9/19 and our first Cackling Goose of the season on 9/22. As mentioned above, the dabbling ducks and scoters are only trickling by with no triple-digit flights this week. We did have a push of diving ducks on 9/17, but only about 150 birds made up of Greater Scaup, Redhead, and Lesser Scaup. The terns, on the other hand, were much more numerous on the 17th. With a day count of 1,101 Common Terns, there were times when the entire horizon had loose flocks flying along and disappearing to the southeast. On 9/21, we also had our second Lesser-black Backed Gull of the season fly past the count and settle down in the harbor to roost.
Common Terns. Photo by Frank Fabbro
The waterbird count produced a couple of exciting non-waterbird rarities this week. On 9/17, I had a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk fly past me on the count, representing only the second fall record for the point. Interestingly, the bird was not seen again that day or in subsequent days but on 9/22 and 9/23 a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was observed on multiple occasions circling and landing in the jack pines around the point. Whether this represents the same bird after a few days of absence or a new individual is difficult to know.
Juvenile Swainson’s Hawk. Photo by Frank Fabbro
A few days later, on 9/19, I was scanning for high-flying loons out over the lake when a large dove with striking white wings zipped through my field of view. Fortunately, Clay was able to rattle off a few photos of the bird in flight and even more fortunately, it discovered the feeders behind the observatory building that afternoon. As of writing this four days later, the White-winged Dove hasn’t left us yet. It spends a lot of time inconspicuously tucked into the bushes behind the feeders, only occasionally strutting out to pick at some seeds. The dunes have also become a lot more lively as our Horned Lark flocks have arrived. Their flight calls ring out over the beach as flocks fly off of the lake and shuffle around throughout the day, mixing freely with Lapland Longspurs and American Pipits.
White-winged Dove. Photo by Frank Fabbro
That is a lot of non-waterbird excitement for the waterbird count, but hopefully by this time next week I’ll have some more waterbird news to announce. Until then, you can follow along with the count in real-time at https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/4209/
~Frank Fabbro, 2025 Fall Waterbird Counter
Featured Photo: Black-bellied Plover
You can now see the waterbird count data on Trektellen! Check it out at trektellen.nl/count/view/4209.
You can keep up with the 2025 Fall Waterbird Count by reading Frank’s weekly blog posts and following WPBO’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X). The fall waterbird count runs August 15 through November 15.
Frank Fabbro: 2025 Fall Waterbird Counter
Frank is an avid birder who was first introduced to the spectacle of bird migration along the Mississippi Flyway in his home state of Minnesota ten years ago. Since then, he has pursued his passion for birds, and the amazing places they inhabit, across the country and around the world. He studied Wildlife Biology and Landscape Restoration at the University of California, Davis, and since graduating has worked on a variety of bird-related projects, ranging from Spotted Owl surveys to prairie-chicken tagging and counting migrating seabirds. He’s excited to be back in the Northwoods, once again experiencing the excitement of fall migration along the shores of Lake Superior.
