Migration Counts

This week on the waterbird count, we had it all. There were big flights of diving ducks, a trickle of scoters and Long-tailed Ducks, three different Sabine's Gulls, Harlequin Ducks, and a thrilling Whitefish Point rarity! The first of two great Aythya flights this week was on the morning of 10/8. It was our [...]

October started with a bang at Whitefish Point. Early in the week, we had a continuation of warm weather and southerly winds. Even with these conditions, some waterbirds were moving, including a couple of very notable arrivals. Then on October 6, the temperature dropped nearly 25 degrees and the wind started blowing out of [...]

Another week has passed at Whitefish Point, and we’re drawing closer to the peak season for waterbird movement. We had almost every kind of weather this week with still, sunny days full of heat shimmer to gusting SE winds with driving rain. We are waiting patiently for another cold front to bring us some ducks, [...]

This week on the waterbird count there were lots of South and East winds that kept waterbird numbers fairly low, with one exception. The big story for the week was the arrival of our migrant Canada Goose flocks. Before this week, we’d seen only 14 individuals. The floodgates opened just after sunrise on the [...]

Fall is picking up speed at Whitefish Point. It rained every day of the count this week, but always briefly enough that it didn’t slow the birds down! We enjoyed our first mixed dabbler flocks of the season, along with some other first-of-season birds. The dabbling duck flocks this week were dominated by American [...]

This week the fall waterbird count was full of highs and lows. On the slowest day, we tallied only 16 species of birds. Later in the week, we were surrounded by hundreds of terns and flights of songbirds, recording 53 species on August 31st. This sense of never knowing what a day will hold [...]

The fall count has just begun, but already this week has produced what is sure to be one of the most memorable days of the season. It was one of those days at Whitefish Point where there are birds everywhere you look. There were thousands of waterbirds zipping by, the flight calls of warblers [...]

Another season of waterbird counting is officially underway at Whitefish Point! Our work started the day before the count on August 14th. With the help of some dedicated local volunteers we moved the waterbird ‘shack’ to its fall vantage point. This structure will serve as an important windbreak and refuge for the waterbird counter [...]

Greetings! Former counter Skye Haas here, with a wrap-up post about the end of the WPBO spring 2025 Waterbird Count. With Martina needing to start her summer gig, I, along with Louie Dombroski and Max Henschell (also both former WPBO waterbird counters), filled in for the last week of the season. The late spring favored [...]