Whitefish Point Bird Observatory

WPBO has a paid staff during migration that includes a field ornithologist, two owl banders, a waterbird counter, a hawk counter, and a gift shop manager.[5] Experienced birders lead field trips to some of "Michigan's best birding 'hot spots'".[6] An annual fund raiser called the "Spring Fling" celebrates bird migration at Whitefish Point.[7]

Professional staff document the migration of hawks, falcons and eagles that provides comparative data for long-term monitoring of raptor populations. The daily Raptor Census is conducted from the "Hawk Dune", which is about 200 metres (660 ft) west of the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and about 20 metres (66 ft) above Lake Superior's water level.[1]

Raptor banders licensed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) "lure the birds from the sky into nearly invisible nets. Each bird is immediately released after it is banded and the details are recorded on an official log sheet which includes the date, time, location, and the bird's species, age and sex."[8] Researchers report that the increased capture of merlin falcons at Whitefish Point in 2004 was "an environmental indicator that the merlins had come back (after the ban on the pesticide DDT)."[8]

WPBO conducts the spring and fall banding of migrating owls using mist nests, as well as summer study of juvenile northern saw-whet owl dispersal at Whitefish Point [9]

The 20-year owl banding project has recently increased the number of owls banded by as much as eightfold by the addition of audio lures that are used to broadcast owl calls. Owls are captured in 10 feet (3.0 m) high by 25 feet (7.6 m) wide specialty nets strung along clearings in the trees. Data are recorded with each banding and the owls are then released.[10]

Researchers report that "nearly one-third of the Boreal Owls banded in North America have been banded by WPBO.... The recent success of all three owl research seasons has begun to document that, on annual basis, Whitefish Point may very well play host to the largest and most diverse owl migration in North America."[11]

Whitefish Point is an important spot for documenting and monitoring waterbird movements in the upper Great Lakes. The Audubon Society reports, "Between 18,000 and 21,000 red-necked grebes pass by the point each fall, representing approximately 25–40% of the estimated North American Population."[12] Other significant counts at Whitefish Point include the common loon, red-breasted merganser, common tern, and Bonaparte's gull.[12]

The waterbird count is conducted during both spring and fall migrations from the beach near the tip of Whitefish Point. The daily eight-hour count starts at sunrise with some the highest numbers occurring on inclement days, but Whitefish Point's frequent fog makes it difficult to count during this weather condition.[9]

Piping plover at Whitefish Point

For the first time in twenty three years, piping plovers nested at Whitefish Point and successfully fledged offspring in 2009. By 2012, three nesting pairs were confirmed at Whitefish Point that successfully fledged eleven young.[4] In 2010, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded a $150,000 grant to Lake Superior State University to intensely monitor nesting piping plovers at Vermilion, Whitefish Point, and other shoreline areas in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.[13] The USFWS designated the shoreline from Whitefish Point to Grand Marais, Michigan as critical habitat for the piping plover.[14] The Great Lakes population of piping plover are isolated and extremely vulnerable to extirpation from the Great Lakes region.[14] On August 30, 2012, the USFWS added 19.85 acres (8.03 ha) acres and more than 1,000 feet (300 m) of Lake Superior shoreline as critical piping plover habitat to Whitefish Point Unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.[15]

The observatory conducts a census program to document migrant passerines at the Point, as well as songbird populations throughout the Upper Peninsula, with a special emphasis on rare species and neotropical migrants. The daily songbird census is combined with the hawk and waterbird counts "to produce a Daily Estimated Total for all species migrating through Whitefish Point."[9]

Whitefish Point Bird Observatory is the only U.S.-based bird observatory in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network.[16] This North American network of observatories studies, tracks, processes, and shares enormous volumes of data about migrating birds from the Atlantic to the Pacific to show the "'big picture' of what birds populations are doing across the northern half of the North America."[9]