Field Notes

Scaup, Wigeon and Tundra Swans by Skye Haas This week saw the start of the Waterbird Count on the 15th, though it was quite the rainy mess of a day. This has actually been a bit of a theme this week with unfavorable weather conditions on several days. But there have been some [...]

Sandhill Crane by Skye Haas It has been a week of strong contrasts; either we have been shut out by harsh winter-like weather or it’s been beautiful spring days with classic Whitefish Point skies full of hawks! Waterbirds for the most part have not yet really got going- a modest push of COMMON [...]

Common Merganser by Skye Haas Greetings folks, here is this week’s sightings report. It has been another decent week at the Point; the first part of the week saw some decent hawk and songbird flights though blustery north winds have quelled migration here for a few days. Still the weather is setting up [...]

Greetings, here is the sightings report for the week of March 24-31. Spring has been chipping away at the edges of winter up here, and the snow, while still a few feet deep in some places is doing it’s best to melt. A new development here at WPBO is the introduction of electronic data collection [...]

Sharp-tailed Grouse by Skye Haas Greetings! This begins the weekly sightings summary of the observations at Whitefish Point. It’s safe to say that winter’s grip on Whitefish Point is still pretty solid. There are still a few to several feet of snow on the ground and the temperatures have been below freezing most [...]

Greetings from Whitefish Point! Pine Grosbeak by Skye Haas We are excited to be kicking off WPBO's 38th year of spring migration research! Of course, it doesn't feel too much like spring just yet with several feet of snow on the ground, lake ice as far as the eye can see, and temperatures [...]

Highlights: Pacific Wren, Green-tailed Towhee (photo above), Purple Sandpiper, Sabine's Gull & Long-tailed Jaeger         Things have really picked up at the Point and we've been spending a lot of time in the field. While the Pacific Wren is the most interesting sighting, it is also the most complicated. Identifying Winter/Pacific Wrens by plumage is very difficult, if [...]

Highlights: Pacific Loon, Sabine's Gull,  Red & Red-necked Phalaropes and Grasshopper Sparrow        After an extended period of easterly and southerly winds, a short period of west and north winds finally stirred things up a bit bringing some excitement to the Point. As per usual, many of the recent highlights came from the waterbird [...]

Highlights: Lesser Black-backed Gull & Northern Goshawk         Well, we had to work a few things out to get the blog going again, so thank you for your patience. Before getting to the more recent sightings I should mention two of the highlights so far this season. A Townsend's Solitaire was found [...]

Photo by Sara Harrington Over the fourth of July weekend, the Piping Plover chicks at Whitefish Point hatched! Sara Harrington is providing short presentations on the life history and recovery efforts of this endangered species. The presentations will be followed by a walk out to the beach to try to spot Whitefish Point’s own [...]