2024 Waterbird Count Week 12

That’s a wrap on the 2024 Fall waterbird count! It was a very fun and exciting season with many cool birds, and the last week definitely kept things interesting. Although migration is all but over, we got a season first. At McGulpin Point on November 6th, we observed the first trumpeter swan (1) of the count! Apart from the trumpeter swan, a single female Northern pintail was seen on the last day of the count, November 10th. This is the first observation of a pintail since October 4th! We also saw two other species of dabbling duck this week with many mallards (49) and a lonely American black duck (1).
This week also saw high counts of bufflehead (30) and common goldeneye (135). This isn’t too unexpected as these two divers are late migrants and fairly common over wintering birds. We also had a season high count of common mergansers (267), an increase in red-breasted mergansers (513) compared to last week, but only a couple of hooded mergansers (2). Apart from the raft numbering nearly 2,500 individuals underneath the Mighty Mac, we had additional redheads (608) migrating through.
White-winged scoters (95) and long-tailed ducks (2637) were common this week. A pleasant surprise given how late in the year we are. We also had an increase of common loons (53) and red-necked grebes (13) compared to last week but saw less horned grebes (7). Greater scaups (5) were seen in low numbers, as were lesser scaups (27) but both of these birds were observed in greater numbers this week than last. As many birds have shown more regularly in this last week, a possible explanation may be the mild fall we experienced in the Mackinac Straits. With few cold fronts, migration may be lasting longer than in the past.
I want to thank all of you that have been staying updated by reading these blog posts throughout the season. I had a lot of fun writing them, and I hope you enjoyed reading them just as much! It was a lovely fall, and I was very fortunate to spend it with the Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch.
Goodbye,
Aiden Haley
Fall Waterbird Counter 2024