Migration Counts

One incredible aspect of fall migration here at Whitefish Point that makes it so unique is the annual passage of thousands of Red-necked Grebes. According to Behrens and Cox’s Seawatching: Eastern waterbirds in flight, the Point “is the best site in North America for Red-necked Grebe, with numbers that dwarf those counted at all other [...]

Here’s a list of all the waterbird species seen along with the seasonal total counted during the waterbird count at Whitefish Point in Spring of 2018, from April 15 through May 31: Greater White-fronted Goose: 2 flew low over the waterbird shack with a flock of Canada Geese on April 23. Snow/Ross’s Goose: 1 very [...]

Some of the highlights since the last blog post include a flock of 19 American White Pelicans that flew past the tip on May 17 and the arrival of several shorebird species. A Red Knot appeared in the pond near the tip for a while on May 18. Surprisingly, this individual was not in breeding [...]

Even with the end in sight the hawk count is still going strong! Among raptors, Broad-winged Hawk remains most numerous with a total of 4,749. They will surely remain in the lead, as immature birds have only in the past two days begun to make up a significant proportion of the kettles overhead, with the [...]

This week the hawk count passed the milestone of 10,000 raptors tallied for the season! As of this update the count currently stands at 10,523 raptors since March 15th. In a strange turn of events, Broad-winged Hawk is the most common species, rather than Sharp-shinned. Just five times previously in the 40-year history of the [...]

One would think that with over 2000 Bonaparte’s Gulls passing by the point the day before that we would have seen at least a few hundred today, but only six individuals were seen braving today’s northwest winds. Fortunately, scoters made up the near absence of small gulls, with 91 White-winged Scoters flying by the point, [...]