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 [...]
This past week was quite interesting and fun at the waterbird shack; it featured two heavy waterbird flights on Oct. 20 and Oct. 25, with lighter days of waterfowl migration in between. However, among those lighter days, the Point experienced two potentially record-breaking days for passerine migration. The forecast for Oct. 20 looked good [...]
It was a fairly slow start to the week, with waterbirds continuing to trickle through the area following the strong front on Oct. 8. The weekend forecast looked quite interesting, with a strong north-northeasterly flow across the region wrapping back around behind a low-pressure system and cold front passing well to our south. The [...]
This past week featured the strongest week of migration so far, and each day brought a different mix of waterbirds. On Oct. 5, a weak rain front passed over the region in the predawn hours. This was the same morning as the historic fallout across Chicago and the southern Lake Michigan area, widely broadcast [...]
The week got off to a slow start on Sept. 28 and 29 with a continuing, unfavorable, southeasterly breeze. Luckily, this was followed by the three most productive days of the season so far! The forecast for Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 did not seem very optimistic, with high pressure, pleasant temperatures, and a [...]
