Migration Counts

Merlin, photo by Ted Keyel Hello everyone, Thanks for a great Spring Fling. We had a phenomenal turnout with well over 100 visitors on the hawk deck on Saturday and on Sunday.  We were treated to high raptor diversity on both days, with 13 species of raptors on Saturday and an incredible 15 [...]

Hello everyone! Sharp-shinned Hawk, Photo by Ted Keyel After a few days with warm weather, south winds and some great flights, things have quieted down a little. That said, Sharp-shinned Hawks continue to put on a show, with multiple days over triple digits.  We also saw our first Broad-winged Hawks, Osprey and Peregrine [...]

This weekend saw an increase in the numbers of both Common and Red-throated Loons at Whitefish Point. On Saturday, April 23, a few lucky visitors witnessed a flock of three Red-throated Loons fly right over the waterbird shack! That day's loon totals were four Red-throated and six Common. Numbers of both greatly increased on Sunday, April [...]

The first several days of the waterbird count coincided with the biggest Sandhill Crane flights ever recorded at Whitefish Point. After a plague of bad weather that lasted for over two weeks, the cranes took advantage of the powerful warm fronts and migrated in huge flocks to the Point. What was striking to a few [...]

April 15th marked the beginning of the Waterbird Count for the 2016 Spring Season. The first birds recorded at day-break were three hen Hooded Mergansers, a species actually not recorded that frequently on this count. The rarity of the day was a flock of 4 Trumpeter Swans, this species has only been recorded a couple [...]

Hello everyone! Things have certainly picked up at the hawk deck. The last two days have been fantastic. Yesterday (April 15th), we counted over 1,000 raptors, with the vast majority (826) being Sharp-shinned Hawks. Sharp-shinned Hawk flying over the hawk deck. 4/16/16. Photo by Ted Keyel We also had a big push of [...]

It was a good day on the hawk deck yesterday (4/14), though as it turned out, it was a merely a warm-up to the Ides of April where everything that happened on the 14th, happened again, only with more! Sharp-shinned Hawk by Skye Haas The 13th we hit double digit Sharp-shinned Hawks with [...]

Hello everyone! Our first bird of the season, an adult Bald Eagle. 3/15/16. Photo by: Ted Keyel The 2016 Spring Hawkwatching season has commenced. We began the count on a fairly warm March 15th, and the first raptor counted was an adult Bald Eagle. An interesting start to the day as the fog [...]