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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
In my blog last week, you may recall that I wished for one final push of Broad-winged Hawks. I am happy to report that my wish came true. On the very next day, I counted 780 broad-wings, and by the last day of the count (yesterday), I added another 400 to the season total. [...]
This past weekend, raptors seemingly forfeited the migratory flyaways in response to high Blue Jay traffic. Fred, a Broad-winged Hawk, who has been traveling this route for many years, had this to say: “What in tarnation!?! You know, I’ve been traveling this route for many years, and I have plum had it with the [...]
Well, folks, it finally happened. Sharp-shinned Hawks dominated the skies, with nearly 3,000 birds zipping past the hawk deck this past weekend. Days like these are what hawk counters live for, and as each hawk passes, it takes with it a bit of the memory of hours upon hours of staring at the empty [...]
It never ceases to amaze me how dependent a day, or even a week, can be on the weather. Only by spending every entire day outside can one even begin to appreciate how sheltered and comfortable our human lives are. With the exception of an unfortunate segment of our population, spending time outdoors is [...]
After a string of several days where strong north winds stalled migration and kept yours truly huddling in the hawk shack trying to stay warm, the past four days have had a sweet south breeze, and along with warmer temperatures, it has brought birds! My first clue to this change in avian traffic was [...]
It's Easter Monday, and as I stand here on the hawk deck at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory — in below-freezing temperatures, with frigid north winds whipping off of Lake Superior, and snow (yes SNOW) falling from the sky — I have to ask myself, "Has the time moved at all?" There may be less snow [...]
