October has brought some cooler weather and some very strong winds. October 1st was bananas. Over 5,000 passerines came in off the lake, including over 2,000 juncos! Several other species such as Hermit and Swainson’s Thrushes, Winter Wrens, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Tennessee Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, hundreds of Western Palm Warblers, Magnolia Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, Nashville Warblers, a late Connecticut Warbler (!), and Rusty Blackbirds. We had a couple Eastern Red Bats and a Silver-haired Bat come in off the lake! We also broke the previous Redhead record with well over 1,000 birds.
Tennessee Warbler resting on the beach. Photo by Jack McDonough
Sustained 30mph winds lasted for multiple days out of the northwest and then out of the southeast on Tuesday. The power of the winds kept migration to a low despite the favorable directions. Luckily, on the afternoon of the 4th, Oliver spotted our first Sabine’s Gull. It was a fresh juvenile that fed in the surf of the large swells before eventually disappearing. We also had our third day with Dunlin so far this season.
Lapland Longspurs in off the lake. Photo by Jack McDonough
On October 6th, a decent flight of Lapland Longspurs came in off the lake. Over 100 birds were recorded in various flock sizes with a few longspurs mixing in with Horned Larks and one odd ball in a Pine Siskin flock. This was a new high count for longspurs for Whitefish Point. Pine Siskin flocks have continued to build in large numbers this week with a slow increase in Purple Finches.
All three scoter species have been increasing this week as well as Long-tailed Ducks. Some flocks of Northern Pintail have been more consistent then previous weeks. Surf Scoters seem to be having a good year already.
Jack McDonough, Fall Waterbird Counter
Featured Photo: Horned Larks and a Lapland Longspur by J. McDonough
You can now see the waterbird count data on Trektellen! Check it out at trektellen.org/count/view/5727.
You can keep up with the 2026 Fall Waterbird Count by reading Jack’s weekly blog posts and following WPBO’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X). The fall waterbird count runs August 15 through November 15.
Jack McDonough: 2026 Fall Waterbird Counter
Jack grew up in Cape May, New Jersey, where he developed an early passion in life for anything migrating. At New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory (CMBO), Jack worked for the Monarch Monitoring Project for six years and coordinated it for the last three. Jack was a migratory bird counter for two seasons for CMBO’s Springwatch project and was a swing counter for several fall counts such as CMBO’s Morning Flight, Avalon Seawatch, and Cape May Hawkwatch. Additionally for NJ Audubon, he preformed aerial imagery annotating for seabirds with USGS. Jack worked as a biologist for NJDEP Fish & Wildlife under the Endangered and NonGame Species Program for several years doing surveys and management work for state-listed species. Owning his own business in ecological consulting and biological monitoring, Jack has worked across Nevada and California in the past year. He spends most of his free time out in nature, studying behavioral ecology through the arts.
