Visible migration must be one of the more beautiful, raw phenomena of this world, and the past week at the waterbird count has provided frequent opportunities to appreciate it. This is a welcome departure from 8-hour loops of occasional, heat-distorted Red-necked Grebes that defined many days in early September! The energy accompanying fall migration is [...]
The Waterbird Shack seems to exist in its own universe. It certainly has its own microenvironment--comfortable weather at the parking lot does not necessarily translate to comfortable weather at the Point. This detail is responsible for both the hasty retreats of ill-prepared visitors and the sideways glances directed my way when I emerge at the [...]
This morning, I huddled against the lee side of the Waterbird Shack: chilly, wet, panning a scope mounted on a shaking tripod in a mostly futile attempt to distill migrating waterbirds from mammoth swells. Lake Superior has certainly outdone herself in welcoming me back to her shores. Though I was gone three and a half [...]
When I took on Whitefish’s spring waterbird count, there were several avian phenomena I looked forward to: Red-throated Loons mixing with the Commons in a ratio not found elsewhere in Michigan. Big scoter flights. The possibility of southwest winds and the vagrant birds they might bring. One of the things I looked forward to the [...]
It hardly seems possible, but Whitefish’s Waterbird Count is nearing the end of its penultimate week. And, what a week it has been! Some of the migration moments I’ve been anticipating since season’s start have happened, and they’ve been well worth the wait. These include: The Scoter flight: this time of year, hundreds of White-winged [...]
Some days, the most peaceful moments of the waterbird count are about ten minutes before it actually starts. I like to arrive at the shack a little early: collect the first weather data, scan the lake and beach for resting birds--ease into things, you know. When the sun edges up over High Hills, time starts [...]
At this latitude, May is a high-octane month. Night starts later, day begins sooner, and I think we all flounder a bit as we try to keep up with all we want to see. When dusk falls, Long-eared Owls rise from the pines near the Point and often, I fall victim to the urge [...]
Eight hours most days, I stand on Whitefish Point’s cobbled beach. There, from whichever side of the waterbird shack is the lee side du jour, I make sweeping scans with binoculars and spotting scope. To the west is a stand of scrappy jack pines where, this week, a shrike has (albeit with different, more murderous [...]
A woodcock twitters overhead, squeezing one last display flight into a sky just beginning to color. You do claim this bird as your spring harbinger, I remind myself. It bears repeating--the morning’s commute starts as a cautious traverse across frozen melt puddles, then transitions to a postholing of sorts through still-deep snow. During the first [...]
Here is a list of all of the waterbirds that were counted during the waterbird count at Whitefish Point in Spring 2017, along with the seasonal totals from Aril 15 through May 31. The count was usually conducted for eight hours, beginning at sunrise, but there were a few days when the count was shortened [...]
