Whitefish Point Vie’s three chicks, once vulnerable tufts of fuzz atop two toothpicks, have developed into plump fledglings with defined feathers – of which they now use to take flight. Over time their jump tests increased in height and skill, indicating the chicks were progressing right on track. The chicks' fledging has made life [...]
Whitefish Point Vie and her three chicks faced the challenges of last week with resilience. Though I surveyed the entire beach many times, I have been unable to find any sign of Little Bill Bob. With the loss of her mate, Vie has had to shoulder the sole responsibility of looking over her chicks. [...]
Whitefish Point In a few short days tiny Piping Plover chicks will be emerging from their protective shells to venture the shore of Whitefish Point. Vie and Little Bill Bob have kept true to their duty, making my job easy as I watch them peacefully incubate. The chicks are due to hatch June 22. [...]
Whitefish Point I’m glad to report that nesting progress at Whitefish Point is running smoothly. Each day Little Bill Bob and his mate Vie take turns incubating their nest of four, switching shifts about every hour. When one does leave the nest to forage, it’s not unlikely to run into Hot Shot on the [...]
Whitefish Point Vie has laid her fourth egg, meaning incubation has begun! In around 26 days tiny Piping Plover chicks will be running around at the Point. In the meantime Vie and Little Bill Bob will be taking turns sitting on the eggs while the embryos develop inside. Hot Shot is still moseying around [...]
Things are shaping up to be another successful Piping Plover breeding season at Whitefish Point. The plovers have been arriving at the Point since April 27, and our pair from last year have found each other again. Just a refresher, that pair is Of,bL:X,B/O/B (Male, aka Little Bill Bob) and X,V:Of,YY (Female, aka Violet [...]
Piping Plover with spread wings. Photo by Alec Olivier It's hard to believe, but we're almost halfway through the 2022 Piping Plover season. There isn't much new to report since my last blog, which opposed to migration counting is a good thing. All four active nests are being incubated by their parents [...]
Of,bL:X,B/O/B “Little bill Bob.” Photo by Alec Olivier The last week of plover monitoring has been an interesting one. I was fortunate enough to find an egg in a scrape of a fifth pair Monday morning. This brought our total nest count to five and broke the previous record of four set [...]
Waterbird Highlights: This week (Aug. 28–Sept. 2), 36 species (+1 other taxa) of waterbirds have passed by the Point. If you have been keeping up with Dunkadoo numbers, you are probably wondering where all the Red-necked Grebes are! We are wondering the same thing. This time last year, there had already been over 5,000 individuals; this [...]
It’s that time of year again where we waterbird counters set out to the Point prepared to count the fall waterbird migration. As you may have seen in our recent social media posting, I (Mario) will be your guide during this fall adventure. This will be my first time working and living in the [...]
