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 MERGANSERS early in the week was likely the result of the hundreds of mergansers feeding on running smelt at the Tahquamenon River mouth. The one waterbird species that really rolled over this week is SANDHILL CRANE, hundreds of birds have migrated overhead, their garrulous bugles almost deafening at times. Particularly notable was a flight of 1,994 on the 9th and another 1,171 on the 13th. On the 12th, the season’s third species of gull appeared with a 1st cycle ICELAND GULL in the harbor of refuge. And as I write this report on the evening of the 13th, I can hear the season’s first COMMON LOON calling from Whitefish Bay behind the WPBO Headquarters building. Also not at the Point, but nearby have been frequent sightings of SPRUCE GROUSE along Vermilion Road six miles south of Whitefish Pt with a total of 4 on the 13th.

“Northern” Red-tailed Hawk by Skye Haas

The raptor show has been excellent this week with several great flight days. Birds got going on the 8th with our first good SHARP-SHINNED HAWK push, 91 RED-TAILED HAWKS and what may be our season day high count of 9 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS. Counts of 7 of these powerful Accipiters were reached on the 9th and 13th as well.  It has been a good season for Goshawks with a current total of 60 birds. April 9th was also a great day for other raptor species; the morning saw a good RED-TAIL numbers, and a season high tally of 9 GOLDEN EAGLES. In the afternoon as powerful storms was quickly rolling across the UP, there was a delightful push of 37 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 26 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and 52 AMERICAN KESTRELS before close lighting strikes and a downpour ended both the flight and the count day prematurely! The season’s first COOPER’S HAWKS were finally recorded on the 12th.  And finally after the stormy weather and north winds passed, the 13th saw skies full of birds, with 47 TURKEY VULTURES, 139 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS and 125 RED-TAILED HAWKS, many of which were the handsomely marked northern race of Red-tails.

Eastern Phoebe by Skye Haas

The other exciting batch of migrants this week has been the classic early/mid-April songbirds and their relatives. The 9th saw several species returning including YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, EASTERN PHOEBE, WINTER WREN, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, and EASTERN MEADOWLARK. Other notable arrival dates are BELTED KINGFISHER on the 10th, EASTERN BLUEBIRD on the 8th and FOX SPARROW on the 11th. Lingering “winter” birds include another NORTHERN SHRIKE on the 8th, while several flocks of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS have been seen on multiple days this week. Finally our finch composition is changing over. What is likely to be the season’s last PINE GROSBEAK was recorded on the 12th, a decent total of 347 have been recorded this spring. COMMON REDPOLLS also staged what is likely their last large flight with over 100 birds on the 8th. Since then, only single digit numbers have been recorded. But there is a definite uptick in PURPLE FINCHES around and the first EVENING GROSBEAK of the season was recorded on the 13th.

Golden Eagle by Skye Haas

 

To see daily totals visit our live data feed at the Dunkadoo website or visit our eBird profile page.

*** Please note we have changed our owl banding visitation schedule:  Visitors may observe owl banding on Friday and Saturday evenings from dusk to midnight, weather permitting. Beginning at the end of April, the Owl’s Roost Gift Shop will be open on select Friday and Saturday evenings as well.  If you have a large group (5 or more), please call (517) 580-7364 or email events@michiganaudubon.org to make arrangements.