Diamonds on a Sapphire Sea
For countless hours I stand vigil on the windswept beach of Whitefish Point; my only shelter, the weather-beaten Shack. This season has often looked like this picture, a high sun casting a sparkling glare [...]
Owl Update 5-20-2021
We experienced a transition in the owl migration this past week. With the exception of a few bad weather nights that predictably shut down the owl migration last month, we banded Long-eared Owl (LEOW) [...]
Blue Jays Take Whitefish Point by Storm!
This past weekend, raptors seemingly forfeited the migratory flyaways in response to high Blue Jay traffic. Fred, a Broad-winged Hawk, who has been traveling this route for many years, had this to say: “What [...]
Beautiful Noise
Happy migration, folks! Now you may be wondering, "What's with the title of this blog, 'Beautiful Noise?'" Isn't this supposed to be about waterbirds and waterbird migration? Isn't what I do, counting birds, all [...]
Owl Update 5-13-2021
The value of any migratory bird study is not based solely on numbers, but we can’t help celebrating setting a new North American banding record for Long-eared Owls. This is not only a celebration [...]
What Bird is That?
To some people, bird identification can seem like a mystical art. Those who master it have gleaned their knowledge from studying the arcane lore of bird ID, leafing through dusty tomes called field guides [...]