Here's the photo - what a cracking little bird.

Click to zoom in.
Thanks to David at MTU for the shot.

Piping Plover back...

... but apparently a different bird again. A banded bird was found by local earlybirder Clementine and successfully twitched by a keen group of student ornithologists and their tutor from Houghton. The bands were studied through scopes and camera from a respectful distance and the combination was something like:
R leg: orange over red
L leg: blue pink blue pink
Hopefully photos will emerge giving greater detail, but in the meantime that may be enough to establish its' life history which would be fascinating to me.

Waterbird passage was virtually non-existent today, though a female Snow Bunting found by the Ornithology Class showed down to a few feet and may be another bird that has come temporarily south on these northerlies. Unfortunately it appeared to have a slightly injured wing and may have had a close shave with the male Merlin that spent most of the day out on the point. Hope he doesn't take to eating plovers...

Otherwise, still waiting for the migrant flood. Any day now...

Where have all the birds gone?

Well we're having a spot of weather up here at the moment. Even seasoned UPers tell me that it's exceptional. Strong northerlies and snow have put paid to migration; Common Loons are the benchmark species, and were very few today; yesterday "just" a hundred or so. As you may have read last night, i saw 3 Piping Plovers in the same scope view on the beach yesterday, what looked like a pair and a single. I've reloaded that post as i was hoping to add a nice photo which Jason's promised to let me use - if we can figure out the technology! One bird appeared to be display flighting at one point. However today there was no sign, although in the arctic conditions i'm really not surprised. I'm sure they're just a little further south on a slightly less exposed section of beach, feeding away and waiting for the winds to change again. Hopefully they'll return in the next couple of days. Can i politely ask all folks to keep a good distance from these nationally endangered birds and allow them to raise a family, thanks. I've been a bit unwell the last couple of days and have appreciated having Jason and Chris to step in where necessary, though i don't appear to have missed a great deal. Apart from the Glaucous Gull i mentioned last night which i saw landing at the tip (a 2nd winter/summer - "blotchy" plumage and pale eye - according to a young chap from SW Michigan who got nice and close to it), 3 Bonaparte's were attempting to ride out the storm in the slightly calmer waters in the lee of the point. Of note was the good number of Red Breasted Mergansers again two days ago - 236, this being my highest count so far.
Apparently my birding friends back home are having exactly the same experience as us - north winds and zero migration. The weather forecast for here is looking similar for the next couple of days before winds swing round to the east, hopefully releasing the floodgates and allowing a tidal wave of migrants to pour through.
That's the theory anyway....

5/7/10 - Piping Plover!

And not just one, but three! One of which was banded.... I'll do a bit of research when i get a chance and get back to you, and with a full roundup of the last couple of days too - today and yesterday were quite quiet but there were a few interesting things, such as the Glaucous Gull, plus the Merganser flight is finally starting to pick up. For those statistically minded, tune in tomorrow!
Nighty night.

5/5/10

Well the loons just kept on coming... no sooner had this seasons record been set than it was smashed. No fewer than 490 loons migrated through today, comprising 324 Commons; a fantastic 54 Red Throated, and 112 un ID'd. And it was really nice to see the Red Breasted Mergansers finally getting going with 159 of those. Red Necked Grebes had a better day than the recent average with 84, likewise the White Winged Scoters with 25. And still plenty of time for all those species to keep on flying by.
Just goes to show what a southerly wind can do!

It was a bit bonkers today as far as loons were concerned - 435 in total (273 Common, 43 Red Throated and 119 un ID'd) being by far the biggest count of the Spring so far. Interestingly, the loons were still going strong when i had to call it a day after my 8 hours were up - darn! Wish i coulda stayed til dark... The other interesting sighting was 4 first summer swans which flew by. I got a good look at one side-on through my scope and it was a definite Trumpeter, even better views than the one a couple of weeks ago that had Tom "Big Sit" Bartlett cursing that he hadn't got a shot. In comparison to the Tundra Swan which i saw near the start of the count, this was much larger, heavier and had the jizz of a Mute Swan with which i'm very familiar, but had a large all-black bill lacking any orange or yellow. The head was also large and triangular and reminded me of a Whooper. I was kept company today by a flock of 46 American Pipits, another bird whose call i'm trying to commit to memory for that Fall encounter on my side of the pond! 124 Red Necked Grebes were nice to see too, though unfortunately no sign of the reported Le Contes Sparrow this morning which was apparently seen yesterday evening near the path to the shack. I did however connect with the Lark Sparrow which Chris found in our back garden - another first for me.
A big thank you to our newest member of the team, resident volunteer Jason who stood in for me on what turned out to be quite a quiet day yesterday - a particular thanks for not seeing anything too rare! That would really have spoilt my day off! It was nice to get my fix of Buffalo down at the Yukon and a couple of brewskis.

Another good loon day, with a total of 143 including 12 Red Throated. One was actually on the water for a change, but as soon as i found it in my scope it dived! These things can swim a long way under water, and by the time i relocated it, it was calling before it then flew onward - only the second time i've heard one call, the last one being in Scotland many years ago. The supporting cast included a distant Caspian Tern over the harbour, 1 W W Scoter, 8 LT Duck, 11 D C Cormorant and 7 Killdeer. A stunning Nashville warbler was singing behind the feeders at first light, what a gorgeous bird!
Yesterday was foggy for most of the count and it was impossible to count any birds until it cleared. Loons could be heard calling, but i didn't know if it was one loon calling ten times or ten loons calling once! I stayed at the shack nonetheless, though the calls of songbirds in the nearby pines were like the songs of sirens trying to tempt me away.
After a long while the fog started to clear from over the trees and while checking for loons taking the "short cut" across the point behind the shack I noticed a distant Buteo without a red uppertail. Zooming in revealed a different pattern on the underside of the body and in particular two pale crescents near the ends of the upperwing. A quick look in my new Peterson (thanx Jim!) and i was extremely excited to discover it was a Red Shouldered Hawk! My first ever. I grilled the next folks to arrive and they reported that one had been seen earlier from the hawk watch.
One Wilsons Snipe was flushed from the path through the dunes just before the shack at first light. Interestingly, its' call was noticeably different from that of Common Snipe, with which it was lumped until recently. These days, splits are often based on DNA and vocalisations, and this one certainly sounded more "squelchy"! I'll be listening out for one on my local marshes next fall, though getting a description like that past the local rarities committee could be difficult!

Birds everywhere!

It was a great day for migration today. Southerly winds brought lots of birds to the point and right from sun up there was a continual stream of songbirds passing overhead, soon joined by a continual stream of hawks. No less than thirteen Harriers passed the shack in the first hour alone! It's fascinating to watch these "Hen Harriers" as we call them, crossing the lake without hesitating like so many birds do. They just head out there without even gaining any height, and they look as though they're hunting out over the waves, which i don't think they are! You can see them a long way out there and they can catch you unawares at times! But as the waterbird passage shifted up a gear that was abandoned, and while the loons were modest in number (70), the Red Necked Grebes had their busiest day for well over a week (63). Red Throated Loons went through from time to time (10+), and interestingly the passage continued into the afternoon instead of tailing off - well we are getting towards the peak dates i guess.
Two different people asked me today how to separate them from Commons. It's a fair question, and one which i've been asked a lot in regard to various species while working in the visitor centre of a nature reserve. The most honest answer is, "jizz" - which is a combination of subtle things which comes through familiarity with the subject. You know how you can pick out someone you know really well in a crowd, even a long way off? Or how you can identify a Robin from a brief view at the end of the garden on a dark winter day, when it's snowing early morning? That's jizz. It comes through spending time observing a subject. So the best way to learn how to separate Common and Red Throateds is to spend time observing them whenever you can, there really is no shortcut!
6 White Winged Scoter were the highest day count so far, one Horned Grebe flew in and landed and it was great to see a Woodcock fly in off the lake, and straight past the shack. My first ever.

Another good loon day, starting off slowly which made me start to think that they need more headwind to give them some lift. But gradually a respectable passage built up, and there were more Red Throated than ever - 43 of them positively ID'd, which with 105 Commons and 59 un ID'd makes a grand total of 207 i believe. The general passage was occurring to the left (northwest) of the point with a large proportion quite distant, perhaps the light winds meaning that they didn't need to hug the shoreline quite so closely? A Common was on the water again for part of the day, and for the last half of yesterday a Red Throated was too - a rare sight in this part of the world i understand. I guess i'm spoilt, as i used to live in a village called Llanfairfechan and they could be seen offshore all the time between fall and spring. A Caspian Tern was picked out on call as it flew past by Chris, who also chased a mystery bird which turned into a Palm Warbler. Bonapartes Gulls are beginning to go through, with 7 yesterday looking rather tern-like when initially seen through bins before the ID was nailed in the scope. They gradually came closer and gave reasonable views. It was nice to see and hear lots of songbirds on the move today, with lots of chirps and tsips overhead going frustratingly un ID'd. But i'm learning a couple of new calls every day which is encouraging, and it's nice to see these southerly winds bringing lots of birds in, with lots of hawks too including a Peregrine high and fast following the shoreline NE without slowing down!
After my last blog i went for a stroll from the HQ and had another Ruffed Grouse not far from the road which didn't seem bothered by my proximity.

Our second busiest day for loons with a total of 239, almost all between 7 - 9 a.m. And almost all taking the short cut over the harbour and across the peninsula to the main part of Lake Superior, most slightly lower in altitude than on less windy days, as today there was a 20 km/h north wind, and with temps between 2 - 6 degrees C it was another chilly day as a couple of visitors found out! Consequently many of the birds disappeared quickly out of sight behind the taller trees as they cut across. One nice aspect of them using this route is that the sun is behind me and i can see birds going across a couple of miles away at least, and there's very little shimmer first thing. No definite Red Throats today, but a bloke from Ontario went away happy on Sunday having watched one fly low right over our heads! Closely followed by our first Surf Scoter of the count, a nice male which flew by giving great views. It's a species which always gets this Brit excited - funnily enough a couple of mates found no less than three this winter near where i live in North Wales, where even one is a mega rarity! Same day an immature Glaucous Gull flew by towards the end of the count in the shimmer, not great views but a bird that gets me even more aroused than a Surfie as i'm a bit of a larophile! Talking of larids, 2 adult G B B Gulls were count firsts yesterday as was a smart male American Wigeon, much more colourful than its Eurasian countepart. This one was clearly lonely and swam around after the local R B Mergs for most of the day like a little puppy! Ahhh.... Scaup went through in higher numbers than recently too.