The outing to Whitefish Point last year was scheduled at an amazingly lucky time when a Burrowing Owl decided to land for a day. This year’s trip had no record breaking bird discoveries, but none-the-less, the weather and birds were good. Seventeen members signed up for the trip. Attendees made their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Many camped nearby, and several stayed in local motels in the town of Paradise. Some just came for Saturday.
LWBA president, Jeff Towner was scheduled to lead the group but had an unfortunate accident playing disc golf on Friday morning and was laid up for the rest of the weekend. Cathy Waller and Beth Olson became default leaders for the trip. Jeff had prearranged for the group to join morning walks led by Clay Bliznick, Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO) ornithologist.
Saturday, September 27, was a cloudy, windy and damp morning. By 8:45 a.m., our group of 15 (along with 15 others) were present and geared up for a full morning of birding. The first hour was tough and slow with highlights being very, very many White-Crowned Sparrows, a Downy Woodpecker and Black-capped Chickadees. Clay has amazing ears that picks up chip calls, so he did his best to find interesting birds for the group.
Along the beach, things picked up with dozens of American Pipits, quite a few Horned Larks and a Lapland Longspur. The group headed over to the WPBO waterbird shack to view the action in the narrow passage. On and off throughout the morning were solo waterfowl and large flocks passing by, mostly far offshore, but close enough for reliable identification by the expert birders nearby. Most common were Common Terns, Red-breasted Merganser, Greater Scaup, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Common and Red-throated Loon, and Canada Goose. A Snow Goose was spotted in the midst of one of the flocks of Canada Geese. Once we exhausted our birding energy at The Whitefish Point, several of us met for a meal at the Goat Locker Saloon in Paradise. That evening, board member, Korben Moelter, checked out the owl banding action at a nearby banding station.
Dedicated to birding fun, a few from our group showed up early Sunday morning for more birding with Clay Bliznick, WPBO ornithologist. The group was much smaller and consisted mostly of well-seasoned birders from Michigan who were happy to tap into Clay’s wealth of knowledge. The windless, early morning was not conducive to waterfowl migration, but we had a productive time in the scrubby forests and beaches.
There was no lack of smaller birds, flocks of Blue Jays overhead, several Palm Warblers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a Pine Warbler. A Peregrine Falcon perched in a well camouflaged location by the beach. Several Rusty Blackbirds were by the marsh and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was among a flock of chickadees. Out on the water, things were slower than yesterday. Notable birds were American Wigeons, White-winged Scoters, Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Red-necked Grebes, Common and Red-throated Loons.
- Cathy Waller
