Field Notes

This past week brought another stretch of turbulent fall weather to Whitefish Point. Tuesday the 21st opened with heavy rain and strong south winds that made birding a challenge, but conditions changed dramatically as a cold front swept through midweek. From Wednesday through Friday, temperatures hovered in the low-mid 40s, though the wind chill [...]

This past week brought a stretch of unsettled and often windy conditions to Whitefish Point. Wind direction seemed to come from every corner of the compass, with sustained winds over 20 mph from both the northwest and southeast on multiple days and lighter westerly and southwesterly winds in between. There was even a gale [...]

This past week brought a true mix of fall weather to Whitefish Point. Temperatures hovered mostly in the mid-40’s to mid-50’s, though Wednesday morning (Oct. 8th) dipped into the 30’s. Strong southeast winds dominated much of the week, but shifted to the north for a day beginning Thursday night (Oct 9th) before swinging back [...]

We’ve now hit early-October here at Whitefish Point, and we’re right in the middle of fall migration. Besides the huge uptick in waterbird migration that Frank will cover in his blog, the last of the early-season migrants are giving way to more sparrows, finches, and other mid-fall species. The week was characterized by a [...]

The feel of the season has shifted at the Point as the remnants of early-season migrants are quickly moving on. The diverse flocks of warblers and vireos, with a sprinkling of flycatchers, have largely passed. While the weather is still surprisingly warm and sunny at times, the bird life is more representative of mid-fall. [...]

Another week is in the books at Whitefish Point and it’s really starting to feel like fall. The leaves are beginning to transition from vivid green to yellow, orange, and red, heralding the departure of summer. The leaves aren’t the only thing that’s changing; the birds are too! An adult Bald Eagle right [...]

Since the last blog post, we’ve had quite the assortment of unusual birds show up at the Point, so there’s plenty to talk about! Last week’s blog wrapped up by covering the fabulous songbird influx we had on September 8, and I was hopeful that some of those birds might stick around. Fortunately, that [...]

Since the last post, we’ve been experiencing some tumultuous weather here at the Point, at least for early September. There’s been a lot of cold and strong winds out of the north, with the Saturday (Sept. 6th) winds gusting up to 35+ miles per hour. Scattered storms have also coincided with much of the [...]

Another week has passed here at Whitefish Point and migration has been picking up across the board, with abundant waterbirds, songbirds, and raptors throughout the week. While we haven’t had the numbers to rival last week’s Red-necked Grebe count, we’ve had plenty of new arrivals at the Point, several species moving through in high [...]

It’s only been a couple days, but it’s already time for another field ornithologist blog update! Fortunately, there’s plenty to talk about after the weekend weather provided us with abundant birding thrills here at the Point. Frank will cover several of the highlights with more detail in his next waterbird blog, but over the [...]