Greetings! The season here at Whitefish is rapidly coming to a close, though we are still a little puzzled as to where some of the birds are yet. It’s been a great migration for many species, but warblers have still been low numbers and vireos and flycatchers have been near absent so far. What little we have birded inland, we have encountered few singing birds on territory. This just may be one of those years where migration goes well into June. I want to put out one last call for making pledge to our annual Birdathon. The weather looks favorable for migration tonight and tomorrow and we will be making the dash about Whitefish Point and the rest of Chippewa County looking for as many birds as we can find! Please consider supporting the research programs here at WPBO by pledging to contribute here!
American White Pelican by Skye Haas
It’s been a good week for WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS migrating by with 1,120 recorded since the 20th. Particularly fun was an hour long evening flight with 248 of these handsome birds flying right up the shoreline and over our heads! Not too many loons still being seen, but small groups of RED-THROATED LOONS contintue to trickle by. Seen by everyone on the point, including visiting museum tourists was a flock of 17 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS on the 23rd.
Raptors have continued their on/off again pattern of late, but the “on” days have been great! Young BROAD-WINGEDS have dominated the numbers but many RED-TAILED HAWKS are still around and a surprising number of young BALD EAGLES have been present with the new season peak day count for the year of 39 on the 23rd being. A notable milestone of 500 BALD EAGLES was reached on the 26th, as was our 500th NORTHERN HARRIER for the season. Getting late was a NORTHERN GOSHAWK on the 26th.
Slaty-backed Gull by Skye Haas
Shorebirds were the stars of the show this week with some good WHIMBREL flights occurring. Over 400 flew by on the 21st with another 184 on the 22nd. The 22nd also had an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, 2 MARBLED GODWITS, an UPLAND SANDPIPER and the 3rd Point record of WILSON’S PHALAROPE! The SLATY-BACKED GULL was refound on the morning of the 22nd, where it provided some great close looks at the Harbor of Refuge for about an hour before drifting southwards. Sadly the bird has not been seen again. An adult FRANKLIN’S GULL passed by the waterbird count at dawn on the morning of the 24th, and on the 26th, PARASITIC JAEGERS were observed both at dawn and as well on the evening flight!
A welcome addition to the season was female BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER observed at the Hawk Deck on the 24th and seen again on the 25-26th in the woods along the bayshore. Also notable is a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER that has spent the last few days vigorously calling around the Point.
Northern Mockingbird by Skye Haas
Yet another push of LEAST FLYCATCHERS has brought a handful of YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS with them the last few days, but we still have very few flycatchers over all being seen, with a few species still not yet observed for the season. Vireos are trying to catch up to this late spring, with several BLUE-HEADED and PHILADELPIA VIREOS observed this week along with the season’s first RED-EYED VIREO on the 25th and not-annual WARBLING VIREO on the 26th. Omitted from last week’s report was the NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD that arrived on the 17th, staying through the current period when it was joined by a second Mockingbird on the 25th.
Le Conte’s Sparrow by Skye Haas
A good warbler flight occurred on the 26th, with many MAGNOLIAS, BLACKBURIANS, and even a few BAY-BREASTED and CANADA WARBLERS being observed, but very rare for the Point was a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER seen on the 25th. The first INDIGO BUNTING of the season was finally recorded on the 23rd, as was a calling EASTERN TOWHEE, both recorded from the Hawk Deck. Out on the bay dunes an uncommon LE CONTE’S SPARROW was kicked up on the 22nd, with a big push of SAVANNAH SPARROWS and late flight of LINCOLN’S SPARROWS.
To see daily totals visit our live data feed at the Dunkadoo website for the Hawk Count here, or the Waterbird Count here. You can also visit our ebird count profile to get ebird lists of the counts as well as the general birding efforts of the staff 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.
