Whitefish Point Sightings Report for May 1-8

Greetings again, sorry for the long absence, I was having some blog sign-in issues, but hopefully that has been all worked out. First an announcement- we are now taking pledges for our annual Birdathon! Every year in late May, the staff and few volunteers head out to find as many bird species as we can in a 24 hour period to raise funds for the projects here at WPBO. If you are interested in contributing, please click here to make a pledge!

Garganey by Skye Haas

So as many of you know, we have had quite the week here at Whitefish Point with some truly fantastic rarities in our area. Topping that list is of course the drake GARGANEY discovered by Chace Scholten at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River on May 5^th. This beautiful bird, native to Eurasia was seen repeatedly over the course of the 6^th, with only one report coming in on the 7^th. It may be now gone, but strong north winds have really been suppressing bird activity the last couple of days so it may be worth looking for still as the winds are predicted to calm soon. Overall though, waterfowl movements up at Whitefish Point have been pretty light. Some small pushes of GREATER SCAUP have been recorded and 8 SURF SCOTERS were counted on the 8^th, but only 4 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS have been recorded this month so far. So far the highest day total of LONG-TAILED DUCK has been 69 on the 6^th.

COMMON LOON migration should be peaking, but again the blasting north winds have not made for favorable conditions. Still the loons have been trying to come through anyways and our peak so far was 242 on the 4^th. Always exciting are RED-THROATED LOONS with a nice count of 44 on the 3^rd. And our 2^nd PACIFIC LOON of the season was recorded on the 8^th. A handful of HORNED GREBES have been seen thi week and 76 RED-NECKED GREBES were recorded on the 4^th. Notable for the Point, a PIED-BILLED GREBE has been observed a couple of times now in the boggy pond just north of the Harbor of Refuge along Whitefish Point Road.

Neotropic Cormorant by Skye Haas

Very surprisingly, presumably the NEOTROPIC CORMORANT that flew past the waterbird count on April 22^nd was rediscovered on the 3^rd at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River where it has been seen every day since then. 3 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were observed on the Hawk Count late in the afternoon on the 4^th.

With mostly north winds the last week, hawk totals have not been much to write home about. 548 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS were recorded on the 4^th, with a smattering of NORTHERN GOSHAWKS this week. 3 GOLDEN EAGLES were observed on the 3^rd, making their first appearance in almost two weeks! The 3^rd and 4^th had some decent pushes of BROAD-WINGED HAWKS, but we should be getting some big numbers hopefully in the next week. A total of 12 PEREGRINE FALCONS were tallied in on the 3^rd.

Willets by Skye Haas

After the first season appearance of PIPING PLOVER on April 28^th, none were recorded till the Point’s resident male “Sting” appeared on the 3^rd. Over all, there have been very few shorebirds at Whitefish other than a late April push of GREATER YELLOWLEGS, but a flock of 8 WILLETS on the rainy morning of the 2^nd was well appreciated! The first and only BONAPARTE’S GULL of the season was recorded on the 4^th. Both GLAUCOUS and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS have been recorded this week.

Unrecorded in the 2016 Spring Season, a pair of BOREAL CHICKADEES made an appearance on the 3^rd. Surprisingly our 3^rd parid species for the season after that unexpected and all too brief TUFTED TITMOUSE on April 27^th. The TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE that has been being seen up Vermilion Road, just passed the fork to Sheldrake Flooding was last reported on May 2nd.

Golden-crowned Sparrow by Skye Haas

Over all most passerine species have been pretty slow, but a massive influx of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS on the 2^nd brought us our final major rarity of this week- a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW; the Point’s 2^nd record of this species with the first one being seen in October of 1995. The Golden-crowned has been seen daily at the WPBO Gift Shop feeders through the 8th. PURPLE FINCHES have really dropped off, but PINE SISKINS are still going strong and decent numbers of EVENING GROSBEAKS have started to appear with 41 on the 3^rd. And finally, also on the 3^rd was our last sighting of the EURASIAN TREE SPARROW.

To see daily totals visit our live data feed at the Dunkadoo website for the Hawk Count here, or the Waterbird Count here.

*** 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.