Field Notes

This blog is your go-to for recent sightings at the Point, including both the usual suspects and the rare species that have been spotted, more in-depth looks at the habitats found here, educational programming being offered, and more. The unique juxtaposition of land and water at the Point funnels many birds through WPBO and over 340 species have been identified at the Point. Be sure to check this blog for regular updates!

Whitefish Point sightings for May 13-21

Greetings! This is the Whitefish Point sightings summary for May 13-21st. It’s safe to say that the weather has not been our friend this month.  Primarily north winds have continued until the 18th, and last weekend had some snow every day! Migration for most species has been slow, certainly slower that what should be expected [...]

2016-05-22T18:14:08-04:00May 22nd, 2016|Field Notes|Comments Off on Whitefish Point sightings for May 13-21

Whitefish Sightings Report for May 6th-12th

Greetings! This is the weekly summary of Whitefish Point sightings for May 6-7th. Again (and again and again….) the winds haven’t been exactly favorable for migration, but the birds still continue to arrive. While the waterbirds and the hawks haven’t been exactly gangbusters, we all have been pleased by the return of neotropical migrants to [...]

2016-05-13T00:19:22-04:00May 13th, 2016|Field Notes|Comments Off on Whitefish Sightings Report for May 6th-12th

Eurasian Tree Sparrow (5/9)

Eurasian Tree Sparrow by Skye Haas While not completely unexpected, the manner in which Whitefish Point gained it's 8th record of Eurasian Tree Sparrow was a bit of a surprise. This afternoon when out at the waterbird count with Louie Dombroski, I heard an odd nasal chirping from overhead, and upon seeing the [...]

2016-05-09T23:36:18-04:00May 9th, 2016|Field Notes|Comments Off on Eurasian Tree Sparrow (5/9)

Piping Plovers have arrived!

The first Piping Plover sighting of 2016 took place on May 6 when visiting Traverse City birder Pat O'Connor found one while walking the beach. I saw what I presumed was the same bird on the beach the following morning. I was a bit concerned when I saw it in flight later in the afternoon [...]

2016-05-09T05:21:40-04:00May 9th, 2016|Field Notes|Comments Off on Piping Plovers have arrived!

Whitefish Point Sightings Report for 29 April – 5 May, 2016

Greetings, this is the Whitefish Point Sightings Report for the week of April 29th-May 5th. Well another Spring Fling has come and gone, and the birding did not disappoint! Very educational for all was the presence of expert birders Jerry Liguori (raptors), and Cameron Cox (waterbirds) out birding the point as well as giving excellent [...]

2016-05-05T22:40:30-04:00May 5th, 2016|Field Notes|Comments Off on Whitefish Point Sightings Report for 29 April – 5 May, 2016

Whitefish Point Sightings Report for 23-28 April, 2016

Well I had written a lengthy blog post about the sightings from the last week and of course, a computer error made it disappear on me so I apologize for the truncated report tonight. North winds have stymied migration, but birds continue to trickle through. Common Loons have started to make modest pushes with over [...]

2016-04-28T22:42:26-04:00April 28th, 2016|Field Notes|2 Comments

Sighting Report for Whitefish Point Apr 11-22, 2016

  Here is the sightings report for the period of April 11-22. After all migration was completely halted  due to winter-like conditions for the first half of April, a powerful warm front finally got birds moving again and there were several days that migrant birds, particularly hawks and cranes flooded over Whitefish Point. The Waterbird [...]

2016-04-23T00:25:06-04:00April 23rd, 2016|Field Notes|3 Comments

Summary of the start of the Spring 2016 season

Sightings report for March 15th-April 10th Golden Eagle by Ted Keyel Greetings! Thank you for your patience as we prepared this new website, but now that we are up and running, let the bird sightings pour forth! It’s been quite the ride weather-wise this season, two days before the start of the count [...]

2018-01-12T13:08:13-05:00April 13th, 2016|Field Notes|1 Comment
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