Week 11 was a productive week for the waterbird count. We added some exciting new species and had some remarkable numbers! On 10/24, we experienced a large push of over 2,000 Aythya ducks, this time with Redhead outnumbering the scaup. Our biggest day yet was 10/27, with over 6,000 waterbirds counted; Long-tailed Ducks were [...]
Another week of above-average temperatures has made birding at the Point very enjoyable. We had many new high counts for the fall this week, as well as a few new exciting birds around. Our first new high count was 244 Mallards on 10/18; they were the most plentiful bird that day, which seemed a [...]
This week of the waterbird count was my favorite so far! With many visiting birders and many exciting birds to be seen, there was quite a shift in species numbers this week. In particular, I was excited to see large numbers of Long-tailed Ducks, with 579 on 10/14 and then 1,396 on 10/15. We [...]
Week 8 of the waterbird count started off strong with some nice northwest winds; 10/3 was our biggest day so far this fall, with 2,765 waterbirds counted! As wind speeds increased throughout the week, our waterbird numbers decreased, with just a few hundred counted on some later days. On our more intense days, we [...]
With some good weather days pushing lots of birds through and many visitors drawn in by other rare birds at the Point, week 7 of the waterbird count was very lively! We had north winds on 9/29 and 10/1 that persuaded lots of ducks to move through, and the calmer days brought in some [...]
Week six of the fall waterbird count was quite interesting as we experienced many different types of weather. From calm to strong winds in all directions, clear skies, and rain, the birds appeared to be on the move in the more inclement weather. Friday (9/20), we counted 1,209 waterbirds. Rain came in from the [...]
With above-average temperatures and wind blowing to the north and northeast each day, we didn't see any significant pushes of waterbirds this week; however, we did continue to add some new species to our fall count, putting us at 40 waterbird species for the week. Most of the new waterbirds were diving ducks. We [...]
The final week of the fall waterbird count! Migration continued to slowly but steadily taper off throughout the week. It was fairly slow number-wise with no large flights, but quite interesting nonetheless with light pushes of late-season species and a few unique rarities in town. A rainbow appeared over the Point on Nov. 9 [...]
As the season slowly tapers down, this past week was highlighted by classic late-season waterbirds, several interesting rarities, and two strong storms over the past two days. The week started fairly slow on Nov. 2 and 3, with Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Long-tailed Ducks, and Red-breasted Mergansers being the primary movers. A great highlight was [...]
This past week featured the first signs of the winter to come, with the first day of snow flurries on Oct. 28 and accumulating snow each day since Oct. 30. This made for some beautiful late fall scenes while walking through the pine woods out to the waterbird shack each morning. This week also [...]
