Winter is here

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It has been quite a wild ride in this first year for the Friends of Whitefish Point. Thank you all so much for following along with our progress and supporting this organization so that we can continue the owl research at Whitefish Point. As you may have read in the last post and our annual report, it has been a truly remarkable year.

Although the winter days are dark and dreary (at least up here), spring banding is right around the corner! The spring season begins on the night of March 14th, as the little Saw-whet Owls start streaming through- sometimes in large numbers even over feet of snow. Some years in March, we capture up to 200 of these owls. Other years, March can be bleak with only a few migrating through. Sometimes Long-eared Owls also start moving towards the end of the month, but this tends to happen mostly in years with an early spring. Boreals can also make an appearance in March. What will happen this year?

We need your help to find out! Please consider making a year-end tax-deductible gift to help us continue the Whitefish Point Owl Banding in 2026. Your support will go directly to fund this program, which is so important in research & conservation efforts in the midwest. We rely on your generosity to continue this project: www.friendsofwp.org/donate

In other news, we have added three more winter presentations to our schedule. Look for more information on these on our website and facebook group this week. One is in Alpena (Feb 14), one in Detroit (Feb 15), and one in Curtis (March 5). We hope to see you at one of these programs somewhere in Michigan.

Best Wishes & Happy New Year,

Nova Mackentley & Chris Neri