The Piping Plover chicks at Whitefish Point are now two weeks old. All four chicks are still going strong and are looking bigger by the day! Most days, I see the chicks accompanied by Violet (X,V:Of,YY) with Really Tricky (X,R:Of,LY) settling territory boundaries with other males. The chicks have begun to explore the shoreline [...]
It’s been a big week for our Piping Plovers at Whitefish Point! The eggs from our nesting pair, Violet and Really Tricky, have finally hatched. Wednesday morning, I noticed movement in the nest while Violet incubated the eggs. As she got up to switch with Tricky, I spotted two chicks! The chicks slowly left the [...]
This week we had some predator activity in the Piping Plover area. On Wednesday, I found two detached wings from different birds along the shoreline near our nest. I kept an eye out but did not see any raptors. I arrived at the Point Saturday morning to find either a Merlin or a Peregrine Falcon [...]
Our current pair (Really Tricky and mate) seem to be doing well this week, and I’ve been watching them switch incubation about every hour. I haven’t had any issues with off-leash dogs. Ron spotted a Merlin in the parking lot on Monday, but we haven’t had any issues in the plover area. A new male [...]
Really Tricky incubating eggs inside the predator exclosure. Photo by Joselyn Ralph The first Piping Plover eggs have been spotted at Whitefish Point! Our only current pair, “Really Tricky” and mate X,V:Of,YY, were observed changing the location of their scrape throughout the last week. On Sunday afternoon, after noticing Really Tricky adjusting in [...]
The male Piping Plovers at Whitefish Point have been fired up this week, likely due to the arrival of another returning male: Of,BY:X,Y/O. All six males were observed fighting for territory along the northeastern corner of the pond — an area sheltered from the wind with lots of cobble to camouflage a potential nest. [...]
The Piping Plovers have started to return to Whitefish Point – and we’re seeing some familiar faces! Four males from last year are back at the Point and have begun to stake out their territory. One male, known last year as “Really Tricky” (X,R:Of,LY), has been spotted scraping and mating with a returning female, [...]
Greetings and salutations from Whitefish Point! The Hermit of the Hawk Shack, your Friendly Neighborhood Raptor Counter, known to many as Rich Couse but mostly as "that guy who stands out in the cold all day, every day, way up there on the hawk deck." has returned for a third thrilling spring season! I [...]
Highlights: Sprague's Pipit & Townsend's Solitaire A hatch year Northern Goshawk. Photo by Chris Neri A Sprague’s Pipit found by Fall Waterbird Counter Mario Balitbit is very likely to be the rarest bird of the season. He first heard it as it flew by the waterbird shack on the afternoon of Nov. 6, but our [...]
Snow Bunting by Chris Neri Passerine migration activity at this time of year really comes down to the winter finches. Thankfully, we’ve had some nice finch flights this week. We documented some significant movements from different species on three consecutive days this past week. We had 1,087 Common Redpolls on Oct. 27, followed by 779 White-winged [...]
