Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Turned Into a Decent Day

It was another slow day for the waterbird count. However, the rain mercifully held off all day and the sun even poked through the last hour and a half. We had a snowy owl (probably one of the same ones from yesterday) spend the day on the point and engage in round 2 with a raven.

Weather: Cloudy most of the day with periods of sun the last 90 minutes. Temperatures in the 30s most of the day but warmed up to the 40s eventually. Wind started strong from the E, then SE before tapering off the last 3 hours.

Waterbird Count: 4 great blue herons flew in behind the shack and settled on the jack pines for a while. That was the highlight for the waterbird count. Other numbers were 10 common mergansers, 9 common loons, 4 common goldeneye, 4 red-necked grebes, 2 Canada geese, 2 bufflehead, 1 RB merganser, and 2 ducks with no I.D.

Other Sightings: Once again the snowy owl was the highlight. It had a pretty uneventful day perched right on the tip of Whitefish Point. A raven did engage the snowy in battle once more, but both birds lost interest quickly. I saw what I believed to be a flock of swans, I didn't get a great look as they swooped over head while I had the scope on some waterfowl. I'm waiting to see if anyone else spotted them today and I'll update later.

Forecast for tomorrow is mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of a rain/snow mix. Temperatures in the high 30s with winds 15-25 mph out of the NW. Doesn't sound great but the last 2 days haven't been as bad as predicted.

Andy N
Waterbird Counter

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