Hawk ID

A Bird in the Sky

Let there be no illusion that hawk watching is full of frame-filling, jaw-dropping images of raptors swooping past you in all their glory. Let there also be no illusion that time spent early-season hawk watching is filled with flights that never allow for one dull moment. March skies cover Whitefish Point like a steel [...]

2021-03-30T20:10:54-04:00March 30th, 2021|Migration Counts|Comments Off on A Bird in the Sky

Return To Paradise

Hey there everybody! My name is Rich Couse, and I will be your friendly neighborhood hawk counter at the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory this spring. I'm back for my second spring hawk count for Michigan Audubon, and you can find me in the shack on the Hawk Deck way atop the sandy lakeshore dunes. [...]

2021-03-17T10:33:41-04:00March 16th, 2021|Migration Counts|Comments Off on Return To Paradise

The Fast and the Furious

The Sharp-shinned Hawk. Recently, I was asked what their name means. Seeing that "sharpies" (my preferred nom de plume) do have an awfully strange name, I found it to be a fine question, the answer to which is fairly straightforward. They have sharp shins. Granted, this does sound like a punchline to a corny joke, [...]

2020-05-05T10:00:46-04:00May 4th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on The Fast and the Furious

North or Bust: Migration is on!

Four straight days of sunshine and superb raptor viewing has got me dancing jigs and whistling ditties on the ol' hawk deck. It truly would have been a perfect weekend to visit Whitefish Point for the annual Michigan Audubon Spring Fling, and probably one of the warmest and brightest in recent memory. Things have changed [...]

2020-04-28T08:55:32-04:00April 28th, 2020|Migration Counts|Comments Off on North or Bust: Migration is on!
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