2024 Fall Waterbird Count Week One

Welcome to the first week of the Fall 2024 Waterbird count at the Mackinac Straits. We are excited to share our findings and our enjoyment of birds!
As we wait for North winds to push our migrants South, we are enjoying our last looks at our resident breeding birds. The first week of the waterbird count had plenty of our breeding residents with a daily high count of double-crested cormorants reaching 665 individuals. Ring-billed gulls, herring gulls, and large flocks of juvenile red-breasted mergansers are also a daily sight. Some of the other resident birds seen are spotted sandpipers, belted kingfishers, and common terns. In total, the first week of the count has recorded 19 different species of resident and migratory waterbirds using the Mackinac Straits.
As we wait for migration to arrive in full force, some migrants have already been showing up. This week we observed 22 common loons, 40 red-necked grebes, 2 horned grebes, 4 common goldeneyes, and 4 Bonaparte’s gulls. But the highlight of week one was a long-tailed duck at Graham point. First observed on August 21st, this early migrant has been staying around and can often be seen offshore. In a few weeks we are expecting this lone duck to have lots of company as they travel away from their breeding grounds.