Hi everyone! The 5th week of the waterbird count has flown by! I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but like other weeks, it was a mixed bag of exciting days and quiet moments. This is, unfortunately, my last full week as your waterbird counter. My last day of counting will [...]
Week 4 of the Waterbird Count was very much a boom or bust week, with a few days of remarkable migration and a few days of calm and quiet. Red-throated Loon by Martina Nordstrand May 6th continued our theme from last week- lots of loons! With 588 loons counted, this day is [...]
The second week of the Spring Waterbird Count saw the arrivals and peaks of many waterbirds, with many first-of-season sightings! Apr 22 was a quieter day, without much waterbird movement over the course of the day. I did have a few Green-winged Teal which are always a treat to see, and a decent crane [...]
Typically, my spirits are quite light when I walk down the boardwalk toward the waterbird shack. However, when I headed that way a little before sunrise on April 15 — opening day for this count — I felt especially light: I was wearing only merino leggings, down pants, a fleece, a felted wool vest, [...]
With almost 350 visitors to the Hawk Deck over the holiday weekend, the last few days of the season felt like one big parade with humans far outnumbering all the hawks I counted over the same period. Many of the visitors who come to Whitefish Point are birders who understand the concept of migration [...]
With one week of the spring raptor count left, Mother Nature decided she wanted to remind me of those wonderful April days where fog engulfs the hawk deck while the north winds blow off the lake and birds are practically nowhere to be seen or heard. I looked at empty skies as raptor migration [...]
Tuesday, May 9, the big Sharp-shinned Hawk push happened. That day, your friendly neighborhood raptor counter tallied 1,443 sharpies. I believe it is safe to say that I look forward to the big sharpie day more than any other day during migration; it is simply chaos on wings. The counting is continuous, complex, and [...]
This past week at the waterbird count has represented the longest stretch of favorable migration conditions I’ve ever experienced at WPBO: there have been no sustained periods of strong north winds; no lasting fog. Not surprisingly, the birding has been favorable, too! It feels like we’re on the cusp of the peak scoter, Long-tailed [...]
Oh, what a sight to behold! On unseen currents they spin, flashing like silversides in the sun, Broad-winged Hawks numbering in the thousands. Twisting, turning, gliding, and churning, higher and higher, they rise and blossom into a great mushroom cloud at an unimaginable altitude. They fill the sky as they funnel out to find [...]
I woke up this morning and brewed my coffee extra strong. My head was still reeling from a whirlwind weekend of raptors and visitors brought up to Whitefish Point by sunny skies, favorable winds, and warmer temperatures that reached way up into the 40s! Yet, before I even opened my eyes, I was seeing [...]
