We’re well into the second half of the fall season at Whitefish Point, and we’ve seen most of the songbird, raptor, and waterbird migrants that we’ve been expecting. The winter finches are abundant on most days, and there have been some Evening Grosbeaks, White-winged Crossbills, and Common Redpolls among their numbers. We are also seeing Snow Buntings turn up on the beach some days, and we had our first few Northern Shrikes perching on the tops of jack pines over the last week. For raptors, we’ve had a handful of Rough-legged Hawks arriving at the Point from the far sides of Lake Superior, plus one or two American Goshawks most days, including our first adult bird.
There’s been a couple of rare birds for the Point that also made appearances last week. The most exciting of these was a Northern Hawk Owl on 10/20 that was a lifer for me and Fall Waterbird Counter Hannah Leabhart. It spent the late afternoon and evening hunting small rodents from perches just south of the Whitefish Point parking lot, but unfortunately, it was not seen again the following day. Another great bird for the Point was a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker that we first spotted hanging behind the feeders on 10/18 and has been occasionally sighted through 10/21. While a bit more common to the south, the Red-headed Woodpecker is the rarest of the non-vagrant woodpeckers that show up at the Point. It was also the last woodpecker we had yet to see at the Point this fall. Besides the variety of fantastic birds that are regulars at Whitefish Point, rarities like these add a lot of thrills to the season, so we’re eager to see which ones turn up next.
~ Clay Bliznick
2024 Fall Field Ornithologist
Featured photo: A Northern Hawk Owl at the Point — a lifer for me! Photo by Clay Bliznick
It would take awhile for the Northern Hawk Owl to even glance our way for a photo. Photo by Clay Bliznick
The juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker being seen at the Point. Photo by Clay Bliznick
There's also been a partially leucistic/piebald Chipping Sparrow often foraging near the parking lot. Photo by Clay Bliznick
Our first adult American Goshawk of the season. Photo by Clay Bliznick
You can keep up with the 2024 Fall Field Ornithologist by reading Clay’s weekly blog posts and following WPBO’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X).
Would you like to go birding with Clay? Join him for one of his WPBO Migratory Bird Walks this season. Learn more at wpbo.org/events.
Clay Bliznick, MS: 2024 Fall Field Ornithologist
Clay first took an interest in birds during a high school trip to Alaska, where he was struck by the flamboyance of magpies, the sleek, penguin-like appearance of alcids, and the sheer number of waterbirds residing along the coast. He dived headfirst into the birding world while an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky, spending every free second exploring his home state for exciting new birds and places. Afterward, he attended graduate school at Murray State University and wrote a master’s thesis examining the response of bird communities to environmental factors in Western Kentucky bottomland hardwood forest restorations. Most recently, Clay has been living in South Florida, where he’s worked closely with many charismatic birds, such as the Crested Caracara, Swallow-tailed Kite, and Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. Clay is excited to join the Michigan Audubon team at WPBO as a fall field ornithologist and is eager to observe the spectacle of bird migration in the Upper Peninsula firsthand.
