WPBO Waterbird Counter

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So far WPBO Waterbird Counter has created 50 blog entries.

Waterbird Count Update: May 25-31

The last week of the 2023 spring waterbird count has been defined by two things: the mosquito hatch and the Canada Goose molt flight. In their own right, both of these happenings are fairly remarkable natural phenomena.  We've got two periods of heavy Canada Goose movement at Whitefish Point. The first is towards the [...]

2023-06-02T11:58:10-04:00June 1st, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Update: May 25-31

Spring Waterbird Count Update: May 18-24

Late May is just a time of year that feels good. It’s sunny; it’s warm. Black flies and mosquitoes have emerged down in Paradise, but the Point is bite-free for a couple of days or so. It’s one of the few genuinely comfortable times we get at a place that, of all this continent’s bird observatories, [...]

2023-05-25T11:06:05-04:00May 25th, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Spring Waterbird Count Update: May 18-24

Waterbird Count Update: May 4-10 2023

When I get my first triple-digit Bonaparte’s Gull flight of the spring, that’s a harbinger: time to start going out for night flight. Today, May 10, 499 Bonys, delicate and ternlike, traveled north during the day’s count. I kept my word, loaded up around 8:30 p.m., walked down the beach towards the tip as [...]

2023-05-11T15:45:25-04:00May 11th, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Update: May 4-10 2023

Shack Talk: WPBO Waterbird Count, April 27–May 3

Shack Talk: Sunrise It would be a stretch to say Leonard and I shared the sunrise on May 2, for the last week and a half has been mostly gray skies. I’ve risen — and the sun, I suppose, has too — but we haven’t really seen it. But, sunrise or not, Leonard was [...]

2023-05-04T08:39:34-04:00May 4th, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Shack Talk: WPBO Waterbird Count, April 27–May 3

Getting Somewhere: 2023 WPBO Spring Waterbird Count Update Week 2, April 20-26.

It's been a fairly quiet week at the waterbird count, with conditions ranging from not-that-bad (light northerlies, dry skies, and little flocks of Common Mergansers) to pretty terrible (snow squalls, strong northerlies, zero visibility, zero avian movement). So it goes during spring on Superior. We've had our first White-winged Scoters (showing first on April [...]

2023-04-27T10:43:19-04:00April 26th, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Getting Somewhere: 2023 WPBO Spring Waterbird Count Update Week 2, April 20-26.

2023 Spring Waterbird Count Update: April 15-19

Typically, my spirits are quite light when I walk down the boardwalk toward the waterbird shack. However, when I headed that way a little before sunrise on April 15 — opening day for this count — I felt especially light: I was wearing only merino leggings, down pants, a fleece, a felted wool vest, [...]

2023-04-20T17:15:38-04:00April 20th, 2023|Migration Counts|Comments Off on 2023 Spring Waterbird Count Update: April 15-19

Waterbird Count May 20-26: Signs of the End Times

May 22. Over the course of 8 hours, 655 Long-tailed Ducks (this spring’s peak flight, to date) rose, like apparitions, from The Gap. The Gap is terminology we use to point out waterbirds flying through the stretch of water bounded by Ile Parisienne and Ontario’s mainland — e.g., “there are two Red-throated Loons flying [...]

2022-08-12T09:38:13-04:00May 27th, 2022|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count May 20-26: Signs of the End Times

WPBO Waterbird Count May 13-19 2022

Spring migration has this accompanying urgency: many of the shorebirds and waterfowl that pass WPBO’s waterbird count are headed to arctic tundra. Up there, the days are long — but the season is short: the span of days within which to establish a territory and raise up the next generation is acutely finite. Accordingly, migration [...]

2022-08-12T09:40:25-04:00May 20th, 2022|Migration Counts|Comments Off on WPBO Waterbird Count May 13-19 2022

Waterbird Count Update: May 6-12

This past week at the waterbird count has represented the longest stretch of favorable migration conditions I’ve ever experienced at WPBO: there have been no sustained periods of strong north winds; no lasting fog. Not surprisingly, the birding has been favorable, too! It feels like we’re on the cusp of the peak scoter, Long-tailed [...]

2022-08-12T09:44:26-04:00May 13th, 2022|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Update: May 6-12

Loons on the Move! Waterbird Count April 29–May 5

The most exciting event at WPBO's waterbird count this week has been the big loon push. This is, for me, a favorite part of spring. The loons are the vanguards of the opening migration floodgates. They signal the onset of a month that passes — like the white wedge on the outer limits of [...]

2022-08-12T09:46:10-04:00May 6th, 2022|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Loons on the Move! Waterbird Count April 29–May 5
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