New Beginnings: Happy Spring! My name is Sean McLaughlin, and I will serve as the 2025 Raptor Counter at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO). Like previous counters, I will provide a weekly blog with updates and news regarding hawk migration along eastern Lake Superior! The count began on March 15 with somewhat favorable ESE [...]
The 2024 WPBO Raptor Count is drawing to an end. Although the last day of count is May 31, the four remaining days are unlikely to change the overall picture as the hawk flight significantly slowed down this week. The Sharp-shinned Hawks are almost through, with only a handful still recorded daily, and some [...]
The tip of Whitefish Point was enveloped in heavy fog for most of May 17 and 18. The morning of May 17 was bright and sunny, and a large kettle of Broad-winged Hawks began forming west of the deck. Low clouds already obscured a part of it, and then fog rolled in from the [...]
Whitefish Point is a great place to learn the immature plumages of the Bald Eagle. Several immature eagles are often seen over the area daily; they are one, two, three, or possibly four years old. Naturally, no juveniles (a bird in its first plumage) are observed in the spring; they have not hatched or [...]
On the morning of May 4, I spotted large flocks of birds high in the air on the way to the observation deck — they were Blue Jays migrating over the Point in the hundreds. I don't believe I have ever seen that many Blue Jays at once! Immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. Photo by [...]
The week of April 23 to 29, we had highs and lows. As many as 1,024 raptors (most of them Broad-winged Hawks) were observed at the Point on April 25, and as few as nine on April 29. Wind direction seems to be the decisive factor on most days. For example, on April 27, [...]
The morning of April 22 looked very promising! Sharp-shinned Hawks flew through the area almost nonstop from 9 to 11 a.m. The Broad-winged Hawks finally arrived in some numbers, and by noon, they formed a kettle of around 100 birds. Soon, the kettle moved away in the northeast direction, and only a handful of [...]
The fifth week of the raptor count saw some dramatic rises and falls! On April 8 and 9, hawk migration intensified, with 141 Sharp-shinned Hawks recorded on the 8th and 312 Red-tailed Hawks on the 9th. Then the wind direction changed, and quite dramatically! Within less than 24 hours, the wind turned almost 180 [...]
April 8 has yielded the highest raptor count so far this season: 369 birds! A kettle of about 100 Red-tailed Hawks formed west of the point, with individual hawks moving eastward towards the lake; most would circle back and rejoin the kettle. Interestingly, there were almost as many Rough-legged Hawks (75), including several dark [...]
The third week of the hawk count saw highs and lows but culminated with 181 birds on April 1! The weather was unstable, with some cold and windy days when no raptors were seen and milder days when the kinder winds from the southwest brought the first Red-tailed Hawks! Four species made their first [...]
