Updates & Announcements
We are so grateful for the help of our community during the spring. As we are halfway through the season, we would like to take a moment to thank our volunteers. A huge thank you to Curt & Jan Vogel for hosting the evening owl programs and bringing us cookies, Steve Davis for moving in the trailer and getting it work-ready in two days, Rick Bicknell and Jack Grimes for keeping us supplied with diesel for the heater, Paul Quinn & Mike Hesidence for donating the snow blowing to get the trailer in its spot, our local bike expert Lynn Miller who we’ve had to text in the middle of the night for a blown-out tire or bad brakes, Susan Kielb for the lovely soup and help with editing and Les Tung & Sylvia Roederer for donating a Windows PC for tracking the long-eared owls. You all are amazing and we couldn’t do this without you!
The second Long-eared Owl transmitter has found a sponsor! Jill & John Jaranson and the Hells Birders group spent the past month fundraising to be part of this special project in its first year. Each transmitter costs $3500, and the folks in this group worked really hard to raise that amount before the deadline of late April. A huge thank you to everyone who donated, and also to Derek from Kingfisher Recruiting, who brought it home with the last $1000 all at once. As a sponsor, the group will get monthly updates with a map of where their owl is and what it is likely to be doing at that time (migrating, breeding, wintering). This owl will be named Lil’ Montana in memory of their founder Jamie Platt who introduced many of the group members to birding. You can find more information about this project here.
We’ve had some great groups of people visiting the owl banding in the last few weeks. Many have had the chance to see both Saw-whet and Long-eared Owls, and just this weekend visitors were also treated to a Barred Owl! Many thanks all of you who have visited the owl banding to appreciate this amazing migration with us.
Who's in for Birdathon this year?!
Last May, birders from all over Michigan swooped in to the greater Whitefish Point area to partake in the first-ever Friends of Whitefish Point birdathon. We did this 24-hour birding extravaganza for several reasons. Of course, there was the excitement and challenge of spending a full day (and, for some of our most die-hard teams, a full night!) searching for as many bird species as we could. There was the celebration meal that provided a dedicated space to gather together and celebrate our day in the field AND our love for spring migration. For me, it is so important to intentionally acknowledge these sorts of things. The huge motivator behind us holding birdathon was to fundraise for the owl research conducted by Chris Neri and Nova Mackentley, who have devoted their lives to studying the owl migrations that pass through Whitefish Point. This event was a huge success. 42 birders on 14 teams found 162 species of birds and raised more than $6500 for Friends of Whitefish Point.
We're holding this event again on May 15-16 (with some optional extracurriculars oriented towards Spruce Grouse and moths on Sunday, May 17), and I'd be delighted if we could get twenty teams (2+ people/team) to sign up this time around. We like to make birding as inclusive as we can: you can bird in as much or as little of Chippewa County as you like; you can bird for as many or as few of the 6PM-6PM hours as you want. And you can join me in anticipating this year's birdathon dinner speaker, Kyan Russell, who will be sharing stories and scenes from his stint on remote Midway Atoll counting nesting Laysan Albatross. (Birdathon dinner, at Whitefish Township Community Center in Paradise, will be Saturday May 16 at 6:30 PM and all are invited!)
I'd love it if you wanted to join the joy of witnessing the fullness of migration in the eastern Upper Peninsula. And, I'll never say it enough: thanks again to all those who helped Friends of Whitefish Point get this idea fledged last year. Reach out to me with any questions or suggestions!
-Alison Vilag
Have you been wanting a new shirt to wear? There is one week left to order one of these limited-edition Birdathon shirts with original artwork by Tom Ford. You have a variety of color options and type of shirt. There is even a hoodie! You can purchase a shirt on the birdathon registration form (you don’t need to register for the birdathon to purchase a shirt) and just select the shipping option if you would like it sent to you: www.friendsofwp.org/birdathon