Keweenaw Raptor Survey

More on Goosies . . .

April 17, 2011 by awg

I received several replies from birders in both Marquette and Alger Counties on a regional listserv that suggested significant goose movements had been occurring in the days leading up to Friday’s observation of 4620 Canada Goose at Brockway. I find this interesting, because nearly all of the goose flocks I observed were following a southeasterly to south-southeasterly flight-line.

Flight-lines of Fridays goose drawn as vectors. (Original map from U.S. Census Bureau.)

For fun, I decided to trace flight vectors on a map of Michigan Counties. This is a complex topic (for which I claim no viable expertise!), but even this broadbrush treatment suggests the possibility that I observed some of the very same goose spotted by my neighbors to the south, especially if one were to assume that the flocks proceeded directly across Superior in more or less a straight direction of travel. As to why I had not seen significant movements prior to Friday (even on days of “good” winds) is also interesting to me, and I’m left short of an explanation.

Tucked away from today’s snow on Brockway,
Arthur

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Goosies Take The County By (before?) Storm!

April 17, 2011 by awg

This female American Kestrel routinely poses for animal crackers. (Or, at least when they're in season, a crunchy dragonfly.)

First off, I’d like to apologize to you, my dear reader, for not posting as of late. A spate of computer issues came to a head and left me backlogged with preparing data and posting observations. In any case, I’ll be writing more frequently in coming weeks, as we’re approaching a most lively time of the year for both birds and people alike.

This past week has been eventful! The roads atop Brockway have been clearing as temperatures remain often above freezing during normal observation hours, with the sun doing a fine job of finishing off the remaining patches of snow. A pair of nesting American Kestrel have taken residency nearby, with both male and female making routine passes by the watchsite throughout the day. March 13 brought a pair of Broad-winged Hawk high over Brockway, marking the entrance of this long-distance migrant as it makes its way through Michigan’s upper Upper (Upper-Squared?) Peninisula from Central and South America. An Osprey, also a distance flyer among the raptors, was observed hugging the Superior lakeline before finally making a water crossing and disappearing from view on March 14. And Buteo flights have been energetic, with good showing of Red-tailed Hawk and Rough-legged Hawk; I’ve enjoyed observing both species kiting into the wind as they scan the forest understory in search of an early afternoon bite.

This week has also seen the appearance of several non-raptorial species for the season, including Common Loon, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, and a remarkable movement of both American Robin and Northern Flicker that suggests that these birds are finally working their way inland after spending some time jammed up against the Superior lakeline (where they can still be seen in abundance along Route M-26 only a few miles west of Copper harbor). And in sure anticipation of a wintry storm that’s still underway as I muse behind the glow of my computer, a brisk flight of 4620 Canada Goose (59 flocks!) came in waves throughout the morning of March 15, a day with the kind of fickle winds that could only spell trouble for raptor enthusiasts. It stands to reason that this may not be the last significant goose flight we see this season, so stay tuned!

It occurred to me that this marks the completion of my first month serving as a most unusual seasonal fixture atop Brockway. It’s a little hard for me to fathom that the season has, in a very real sense, only begun! The weeks ahead promise some of the most exciting flights of the season, so now is the time to consider making regular trips up the mountain.

Sharing in Fine Feather atop Brockway,
Arthur

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The West End is Open!

April 13, 2011 by awg

Brockway Mountain Drive’s west end is now passable for even garden variety automobiles. (The Copper Harbor side is still a couple days away from being similarly navigable.) Please watch for southerly winds in the days ahead and be sure to bring your binocular. We hope to see you soon atop Brockway!

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The Two Faces of My Day

April 10, 2011 by awg

The Skytop Inn, 11:00 AM

Attired as if I were about to step onto a Maine lobster boat, I hauled up Brockway Mountain Drive’s east end on the ATV while shielding my face from the sting of another icy rain that had moved over the mountain only minutes after I left the house. Conditions on the top were hardly ideal: Bands of rain were still passing over the mountain, the southerly winds would periodically walk their way around the compass rose, and the fog was straight out of a badly made horror film. But within minutes after I had unpacked and was standing at the ready outside the count shelter, something dropped out of the fog and landed on the exposed gravel of West Bluff within fifteen feet of me: a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which seemed as surprised to see me as I was her. Birds were still moving in this miserable weather!

But after two hours on the mountain, the fog still showed no sign of abating, and I’d heard and seen nothing else. I opted to cut my losses. Back at my cabin in Copper Harbor twenty minutes later, I cut the engine on the ATV and could now hear birds all around me! I looked up at Brockway Mountain and realized the “fog” enveloping the mountain was actually a low Stratus cloud (i.e., it’s technically not fog at all, since the base of this cloud doesn’t touch ground level), leaving a relatively clear, open space below the cloud ceiling for birds to move in. This may explain why my sapsucker was on the move; had I stayed up on the mountain, I would have had no real context for this sighting! I decided to bird Clyde Wescoat’s property near the Copper Harbor Visitor Center (with his permission, of course!), and soon ran up a list: Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Hooded Merganser, Mallard, Canada Goose, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Rusty Blackbird, American Crow, Blue Jay, Herring Gull, Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, White-winged Crossbill, Northern Saw-whet Owl. Not shabby!

The Skytop Inn, same day, 3:00 PM

After roughly an hour and a half of stepping through fields and splashing in wetland, I felt the warmth of sunshine on my face, and looked up to the mountain to see that the veil of Stratus had dissipated. There was still time to see if hawks were moving, so I headed back to the cabin, packed up my things, and made a second trip to the top of the mountain where I was greeted by sunshine, good visibility, stabler (albeit, gusty) SSE breezes, and almost immediate gratification as an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk blew by on the windward side of Brockway. The remaining two and half hours of observation yielded 53 eastbound raptors, including 13 Turkey Vulture, 8 Bald Eagle, 2 Northern Harrier, 7 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 19 Red-tailed Hawk, 2 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 American Kestrel, and 1 Merlin before Stratus again enveloped the mountain in the closing minutes of the count.

Atop Brockway, the weather demonstrated a Janus-like disposition today, and I feel that I made the best of it. I now close my day delighted by the satisfying illusion that, somehow, I fit two days experience into a single twenty-four hour period.

Burning gas up and down Brockway,
Arthur

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A Break in Northerlies (At Last!)

April 8, 2011 by awg

If you’ve been following HawkCount this past week, it would be easy to think our dry spell would never end! I’ll admit I was starting to have doubts myself, but for it to be this still at Brockway meant something was up. The flight lines that migrating birds use each year are subject to annual variation, but a good hawkwatch is still a good hawkwatch, even if the numbers aren’t as high some years as others. (Which is precisely why migration studies are generally conducted over a period of several years; migration data from any one year is almost never a “typical” representation of what’s seen at that location each year.) There’s just no way we could see nothing for a whole season short of a dramatic climatic shift! (Right? Right? *gulp*) Of course, even if things are going to change, you begin to wonder how much longer you need to wait when storms earlier in the week put you back on the snowmobile cruising up the mountain in better snow conditions than you had when you started the count March 15. Hmm. If I was a hawk, I’d stay on holiday, too!

But it seems that Spring does cometh: The god(dess?) of hawk migrations smiled upon me April 7, when the proverbial river lock finally opened and I was blessed with an eastbound flight of 191 raptors, including 50 Bald Eagle (1 for each state of the Union, I suppose!), 3 Golden Eagle, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk, 77 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, 11 Rough-legged Hawk (including 2 dark morph), 4 American Kestrel, 1 Merlin, and 2 Peregrine Falcon. Notable non-raptor observations included 5 Sandhill Crane, 51 Snow Bunting, and 1 American Pipit, beating the Spring Earliest Arrival Date (SEAD) cited for that species in Binford 2006 by over three weeks! All in all, a very good day, that (almost) makes up for monotony of the past several weeks. Let us pray we don’t hit another such impasse this season!

Before long, smarter folk who stayed indoors in this unseasonal weather will be able to venture up the mountain with an ordinary automobile (i.e., vehicles without skis, 4WD, or British Secret Service-style aftermarket modification) and see spectacular hawk flights over a humble beer and sandwich. When my Honda coupe ably scales the mountain, you’ll be the first to know! That is as sure a sign, as any, that the time has come for you to join us on the mountain!

Counting (at last!) from Brockway,
Arthur

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Keweenaw Redpoll(?!) Survey

April 1, 2011 by skyehaas

Howdy all!

Well at least we don’t have to change the acronym. This morning was marked by a strong Common Redpoll flight with 148 birds recorded flying by in small flocks. I noted several flocks on my way up the coastline on my way to count as well. Early for Keweenaw County was a singing Song Sparrow in Copper Harbor and my most interesting sighting of the day was a flock of 7 Red-necked and 3 Horned Grebes off Hebard Park. Pretty early for these birds to be on the North Shore of the Keweenaw.

World's worst redpoll photo

It was wonderful getting a chance to count again as I gave Arthur a well deserved respite for the day. I was able to get my 4-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee up the west end of the Mountain (smaller cars beware of the late afternoon slush-fest I came off in!), so soon all will be able to get up and visit Arthur (he accepts bribes of cookies for Golden Eagles btw….).

And this what greeted me when I got up to the top.

So the raptors- it was a fun day, not too crazy, but good diversity. The first Turkey Vultures of the season were recorded, and yet another Red-shouldered Hawk along with 2 Northern Goshawks were a treat. A couple of Red-tails punctuated by a juvie Rough-legged Hawk wraps up the buteo report and 18 east-bound Bald Eagles and 2 Golden Eagles were also record, with of course the local ravens chasing one of the Goldens out of the valley.

Can’t wait to get back….

~Skye

We couldn't go too long without a photo of a raptor eh?

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The Closing Days of Winter

March 31, 2011 by awg

Temperatures these past few days have been creeping upward, and not only have I been dispensing with hat and gloves, but I now rarely finish my thermos of hot tea before the day’s count is over. And while the remaining snow on Brockway Mountain Drive’s east end is surely frozen in the morning, come afternoon that snow is pure slush, making navigation by ATV slightly treacherous.

Birdwise, we’re still slogging through a stretch of slow days. But diversity is increasing, even if numbers are not: March 26 brought us our first Rough-legged Hawk (a juvenile light morph, should you care!), March 29 a vanguard of 4 Red-tailed Hawk, and March 30 a gorgeous adult Red-shouldered Hawk.

Vic Berardi would cringe at the quality of this shot.

Other additions to the list include Red Crossbill, with Snow Bunting and small flocks of Common Redpoll now trickling though almost daily. And a Northern Shrike (left) has taken up the same spruce in easy binocular view from West Bluff on the mornings of March 29 and 30. Things can only get better from here . . .

And so the end of another winter in the UP draws neigh. I think I will miss it!

Thinking of you from atop Brockway,
Arthur

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Why Seeing “No Birds” Still Matters

March 26, 2011 by awg

If you’ve been following the last few days of the KRS count via HawkCount, then you’re well aware that we seem to have struck a vein of cold temperatures, unfavorable winds, and precious few birds. A stretch of uncomfortable, slow days can be hard on morale, especially when forecasts for the week ahead seem to all but assure status quo.

But even when migration is dull, these hours on the mountain are hardly wasted. One of the reasons we are counting migrating birds at Brockway Mountain is to learn more about how birds migrate through the Keweenaw Peninsula. And the only way to do this is by performing our counts systematically, in exactly the same way, from year to year. The data we collect about the birds we see builds a representative “snapshot” of the migration itself, which, when correlated with data from other locales for the same period of time, helps us learn not only how birds migrate in the mouth of the wolf, but helps conservationists build a better picture of bird population trends on a regional and continental scale.

So, put another way, even seeing few or no birds is useful data! To know the conditions for when birds don’t fly is just as important as knowing the conditions for when they do. And the only way to establish those conditions is by weathering it out with binocular in hand, and not letting your taxed attention span (and the occasional fit of boredom) get the best of you. Because, ultimately, bird numbers aren’t stock prices or sports scores; the only losers are the counters who didn’t go out to count birds that day.

Musing From Brockway,
Arthur

Posted in Brockway Mountain, spring migration, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

High Time and Brisk Breezes . . .

March 20, 2011 by awg

Sunshine and Smiles.

March 20 was a day of gale force south-by-southeast winds, with gusts as high as 56 mph turning garden-variety snow into stinging embers against exposed skin. No one would have blamed me if I packed up and went home, but I really wanted to know something: Would anything fly in this weather?

Yes! 11 Bald Eagle and 1 Golden Eagle were still catching ridge updrafts in winds known to capsize large sailing vessels. (And those nesting raven conveyed to every near-passing eagle the importance of staying the hell out of their airspace!) It was also amusing to watch a flock of Bohemian Waxwing periodically lift off the edge of the mountain only to drop swiftly back to earth as if drawn by a powerful magnet. So while today did not bear witness to a record flight, I am satisfied to have seen as much as I did in these conditions. Some birds, clearly, are more equal than others . . .

Standing Vigil at Brockway,
Arthur

Posted in Brockway Mountain, raptor migration, spring migration | 3 Comments »

A Winter Dusting

March 19, 2011 by awg

The (un)seasonal thaw of the past week brought an early Sharp-shinned Hawk (3/16) and our first American Robin (3/17), and left more than a few bare spots on the mountain. Perhaps because I was mostly concerned about grinding my way to the top of Brockway via snowmobile, I was glad for March 18′s light dusting of snow and below-freezing temperatures which are slightly more in keeping with the winters that the UP is famous for. But even as I appreciate its harsh stillness, winter here is most definitely flagging as the signs of early Spring are everywhere: Common Raven are almost certainly nesting again near West Bluff, as I observed one of the pair bringing food back to the old nest location on Thursday. Many of our winter residents (e.g., Dark-eyed Junco, Bohemian Waxwing) are beginning to to leave in number. And this afternoon, I heard a flock of migrating Canada Goose pass over where I’m staying in Copper Harbor. And so the wheel turns . . . many beautiful, bird-packed days lay ahead.