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!

There’s this word, zugunruhe. It means migratory restlessness, and it looks like dozens of Common Nighthawks streaming north across Lake Superior at dusk. It sounds like the wild cries of the Whimbrel flocks that raced north over the Point this week. It feels like the predictable late-season wanderings my brain embarks on. Food and shelter [...]

2020-05-30T15:32:35-04:00May 30th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on
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Night Flight: Waterbird Count Update 5/16-5/22

Ahhh, the end of May — the mornings get earlier, and the nights get later; the sleep deprivation builds like the crescendoing peeper chorus back in the woods. One of the wonderful trials towards the end of the spring waterbird count is the phenomena of the evening waterbird flight. Though the end-of-season weariness is settling [...]

2020-05-26T12:31:22-04:00May 23rd, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Night Flight: Waterbird Count Update 5/16-5/22
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The Bold and the Beautiful

Something truly wonderful happened this past week. For the first time in what seemed like ages, I stepped out my door in the morning, and I heard birds singing. If I wasn't loaded down with a backpack full of hawk watching gear, I would have jumped for joy! It was the moment I had been [...]

2020-05-19T10:18:51-04:00May 18th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on The Bold and the Beautiful
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Bad Weather, Good Birding: WPBO Waterbird Count Update May 9-15

There are two types of bad weather at Whitefish Point: bad weather with good birds, and bad weather with no birds. Yesterday (May 14), finally, the sky started spitting shorebirds. Yes, the sky also was spitting (and at times, pouring) 38-degree rain for the entire 8-hour count, but that is the typical tradeoff for a [...]

2020-05-18T10:54:14-04:00May 15th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Bad Weather, Good Birding: WPBO Waterbird Count Update May 9-15
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Flight Lines: Waterbird Count May 2-8

Lines of ducks stream through the sky. By day, I search for them. (For most of the last week — a cheek-numbing stretch of demoralizing north winds — it’s seemed that I seek far more than I find.) Then, by night, when I close my eyes and drift off, the ducks reappear, twisting their way [...]

2020-05-12T14:02:01-04:00May 9th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Flight Lines: Waterbird Count May 2-8
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The Fast and the Furious

The Sharp-shinned Hawk. Recently, I was asked what their name means. Seeing that "sharpies" (my preferred nom de plume) do have an awfully strange name, I found it to be a fine question, the answer to which is fairly straightforward. They have sharp shins. Granted, this does sound like a punchline to a corny joke, [...]

2020-05-05T10:00:46-04:00May 4th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on The Fast and the Furious
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Waterbird Count Update April 24-May 1

Loon migration at WPBO is currently approaching full throttle — today, May 1, I had what is, so far, the season’s highest daily counts of Common (277) and Red-throated (38). With weather and season being what they are, I anticipate that Common Loons will peak within the next few days. (Last year, that happened on [...]

2020-05-02T10:26:20-04:00May 1st, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Waterbird Count Update April 24-May 1
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North or Bust: Migration is on!

Four straight days of sunshine and superb raptor viewing has got me dancing jigs and whistling ditties on the ol' hawk deck. It truly would have been a perfect weekend to visit Whitefish Point for the annual Michigan Audubon Spring Fling, and probably one of the warmest and brightest in recent memory. Things have changed [...]

2020-04-28T08:55:32-04:00April 28th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on North or Bust: Migration is on!
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