Michigan Audubon Office: (517) 580-7364|birds@michiganaudubon.org

Migration Counts

Seasonal staff at WPBO conduct waterbird counts in the spring and fall and a spring raptor count. During the seasons, counts are conducted daily. Raptor counts run March 15-May 31 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Waterbird counts run April 15-May 31 and August 15-November 15, 8 hours starting at dawn daily during each season. The Hawk Deck and Waterbird Shack are accessible to the public, and you can follow this blog to get regular updates during the counting seasons!

The Hermit of the Hawk Shack

There is nothing like a gray day to set one's mind on a contemplative path and the first week of the hawk count certainly provided me with a string of them. Luckily for me, a watcher of the skies, my only limits were the clouds. Even so, my imagination takes me far beyond and if [...]

2020-03-23T19:15:28-04:00March 23rd, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on The Hermit of the Hawk Shack
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Welcome to Paradise

Welcome to the Spring 2020 hawk watch. My name is Rich Couse and this season I will be your hawk counter, birdy blogger, and all-around Voice from the Hawk Deck at Michigan Audubon's Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, but first, a little about myself. A year and a half ago I moved from New England to [...]

2020-03-17T16:35:26-04:00March 17th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Welcome to Paradise
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Lake Effect

Most hours of most days, the little flock of Snow Buntings are the closest thing to company out at the waterbird shack. They’re pretty good for that, actually--hardy birds that flit about the frozen beach, gleaning the sparse grass, giving happy calls even when the snow is so profuse I can’t see the lake. Watching [...]

2019-11-09T20:28:01-05:00November 9th, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Lake Effect
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The Season of Long-tailed Duck

To the Inuit of Nunavut, the arrival of the Long-tailed Duck (or in their language, aggiarjuk) heralds spring’s coming. Traditional songs exalt the event--”When we have survived the worst and the future looks promising, the Long-tailed Ducks have now returned. As they return, they are full of joyous spirit.”  At Whitefish Point, where one spends [...]

2019-11-02T23:22:54-04:00November 2nd, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on The Season of Long-tailed Duck
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Waterbird Count Recap: 18-25 October, 2019

Gale-force winds (temporarily) felled the shack this week...  October is an easy month to love at the Point. Each morning, I gear up in the parking lot, entertaining unrealistic fantasies of what might fly by the count (or perch on the Merlin pole…) It is a favorite time of day--the sky is colorful, [...]

2019-10-25T21:11:58-04:00October 25th, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Recap: 18-25 October, 2019
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Waterbird Count Recap through 17 October

On a brisk morning at the Point, one finds the mind and body to be in conflict. While the body craves the shelter that comes from huddling on the south side of the counter’s shack, the mind knows that pursuing comfort means that more birds might slip by undetected. On a heavy flight, after weeks [...]

2019-10-18T07:29:54-04:00October 18th, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Recap through 17 October
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Waterbird Count recap through 7 October

The right winds in early October usher Whitefish’s peak Aythya (certain diving ducks like scaup and Redhead) flight past the Point, and yesterday, the 7th, was fun. For most of the count, each time I looked to the northwest, a new duck flock had sprung the gate and was rapidly traversing the zone of easy [...]

2019-10-08T18:03:52-04:00October 8th, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count recap through 7 October
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Fall Waterbird Count Update: 22-28 September 2019

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 [...]

2019-09-30T17:51:19-04:00September 30th, 2019|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Fall Waterbird Count Update: 22-28 September 2019
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