Audubon's Warbler - Photo: Joe Kaplan

The month of December was mild, and many bodies of water remained open, allowing a number of lingering waterbirds including ducks and grebes to be recorded later than usual this season. It has been a decent winter for over-wintering hawks in the UP. More Cooper’s, Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks than typical have been reported in recent weeks, mostly concentrated along Lake Michigan and the eastern Soo area. Northern Goshawks have been regularly seen, and there have been 3 Red-shouldered Hawk sightings in January! Surprising, Rough-legged Hawk sightings are average, if not a little low this winter.

Yellow-billed Loon - Photo: Skye Haas

Read the full UP Rare Bird Report for January 15 HERE.

It is through donations to the KRS that we have been able to fund our first field season, and encourage further support to ensure the completion of this project.

MAX HENSCHELL

Max Henschell will count raptors at Brockway Mountain in 2010

Max Henschell grew up in northern lower Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast. Though always interested in the outdoors and nature, his interest in birding was sparked 6 years ago by a single Magnolia Warbler. While working on Isle Royale, Max came across the bird in the middle of the trail. With little knowledge and an entire field guide to look through, it took him nearly an hour to identify. Throughout the summer his interest in birds grew. But since that summer, Max’s interest in birds and birding has become a passion. Max has been an active birder in the Keweenaw and Upper Peninsula for the last 5 years. He has had the opportunity to bird in many birding “hotspots” across the country including the Rio Grande Valley and Southeast Arizona, with a life list of over 500 birds in just a few short years. Max has worked as the waterbird counter at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory and at Seney National Wildlife Refuge as a marsh-bird surveyor as well as volunteering at Patagonia Lake State Park in Arizona as a bird walk leader and with the Manitou Island Bird Survey. Max will be completing his master’s degree from Michigan Technological University in grassland bird ecology in March before joining the KRS.

Northern Hawk Owl - Skye Haas

KRS encourages you to attend the following events in 2010:

• The 2010 Ornithological Congress, April 7 – 10.  MiBCI
• Spring Fling 2010, a celebration of Spring migration at Whitefish Point, April 23 – 25.  Whitefish Point Bird Observatory
• Keweenaw Peninsula International Migratory Bird Day celebration, mid-April through mid-May. Keweenaw IMBD
• Michigan Audubon Annual Conference & Tawas Point Birding Festival, May 13 – 16.  Michigan Audubon

King Eider near Whitefish Point, Michigan - Chris Neri

Chippewa County

Kirk Zulfelt found a 1st year KING EIDER* at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River on November 6th along with 4 TUNDRA SWANS, as well as a TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE at Whitefish Point and a male SPRUCE GROUSE on Farm Truck Road. The KING EIDER* was seen again on the 7th. Kirk also reported a good selection of gulls from Dafter Dump on the 12th, including THAYER’S, ICELAND, GLAUCOUS and GREAT BLACK-BACKED. Hedi Doman and Craig Robson photographed an adult grey-morph GYRFALCON at the intersection of 9 Mile and Riverside Dr.south of Sault Ste. Marie on the 3rd. I recieved a second-hand report of an additional sighting of this bird along 5 Mile Road. Hedi and Craig also reported 48 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS along 8 Mile Road on the 3rd. Jason Bojczyk reported 100+ TUNDRA SWANS and 150+ BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS from Dunbar on the 7th, as well as a late BARN SWALLOW south of the Soo.

READ THE FULL REPORT.

For more information, visit: http://wpbo.org/springfling

Norman Smith, Director

Blue Hills Trailside Museum & Norman Smith Environmental Education Center

Norman Smith with Snowy Owl

Norman Smith is a self-taught naturalist who has worked for the Massachusetts Audubon Society since 1974. His current position is Director of Blue Hills Trailside Museum and Norman Smith Environmental Education Center in Milton, Massachusetts.

Norman has studied birds of prey for over 35 years, including rehabilitating the injured and successfully fostering over 1,000 orphaned hawk and owl chicks into adoptive nests. His ongoing long-term projects include trapping and banding migrating hawks and owls in the Blue Hills Reservation, banding nestling hawks and owls, and doing research on snowy owls and other raptors wintering at Boston’s Logan International Airport. He has also traveled to Alaska to study snowy owls in their native tundra habitat. His research work has been published in National Geographic, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Yankee, Massachusetts Wildlife, Bird Observer, Birding, Sanctuary, Geo, Nature, Grolier Encyclopedia, Owls of the Northern Hemisphere and Owls of the World.

His mission is to use the information gathered from his research to stimulate a passion in everyone he meets to help us better understand, appreciate and care for this world in which we live.

Hawk Watch Site Listings for Michigan

Zoom in on this map from HMANA to see the variety of registered Hawk Watch sites in Michigan.  Note that Brockway Mountain is not currently registered, but will be for the Spring 2010 migration season.  Also, noteworthy is the density of sites in Southeast Lower Michigan, where the annual hawk counts receive strong support.

Broad-winged Hawk at Whitefish Point - John van Dort, Spring 2009

The Spring raptor count conducted by the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory always yields impressive results.  As one of North America’s most traveled migratory funnels, the Point has been home to WPBO bird counts for over 30 years.  Here are the totals for Spring 2009:

Turkey Vulture: 370
Osprey: 56
Bald Eagle: 400
Northern Harrier: 522
Sharp-shinned Hawk (pictured above): 8,499
Cooper’s Hawk: 51
Northern Goshawk: 69
Red-shouldered Hawk: 57
Broad-winged Hawk: 2,366
Red-tailed Hawk: 1,308
Rough-leged Hawk: 798
Golden Eagle: 89
American Kestrel: 322
Merlin: 64
Peregrine Falcon: 59
Swainson’s Hawk: 2
Unidentified raptors: 10

Read notes from the entire Spring 2009 season at the WPBO Hawk Count blog.

2010 Ornithological Congress, April 7-10 - Petoskey, MI

Mark your calendars for the 2010 Ornithological Congress, organized by the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative.  The 2010 Congress will be held April 7 – 10 at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, Michigan.

Planning for the 2010 Ornithological Congress is underway with an agenda that will include a wildlife art fair and symposia on bird monitoring, tree diseases, the economics of outdoor recreation, and fostering diversity in conservation. Keep watching this page for updates as they become available.

2010 Ornithological Congress Details

Sponsorship Opportunities

Birders are invited to participate in this citizen science effort by downloading directions and field data sheets via the links below.

Results will be published in Hawk Migration Studies, the publication of HMANA.

Forms and directions:
Directions (PDF)
Data form (.xls)

The HMANA Winter Raptor Survey committee may be contacted by email at wrs@hmana.org.

Common Redpoll at Whitefish Point, MI - Chris Neri

 Another autumn is drawing to a close in the northwoods. Sparrows and shorebirds are almost gone, and warblers have become but a memory of good times past. Late migrants and wintering species have begun to arrive, but for many species, particularly finches, numbers have been low so far. WPBO reported the first Common Redpolls of the season on the 28th, and there have been no reports yet of Pine Grosbeaks. Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins have been present, but only scattered small flocks. Both Red and White-winged Crossbills have had recent incursions into our area, with flocks of White-winged Crossbills reported from the upper Keweenaw, northern Marquette and Delta Counties. READ THE FULL REPORT.