Whew. That was rough. Early April brought nearly an entire week of cold north winds and little movement. After such a great March start, it has been nice to see some warm sunshine and south winds. We've now had 4 days of conditions to add to the fresh April eBird Report. By April 10, we're … Continue reading Ant Eaters Unite
With heavy heat and humidity, things are far different than when things started in March. However, in March we were happy to see Pine Siskins migrating. Some three months later, they're still moving. 99 seen yesterday! As we enter into Memorial Day Weekend, remember... bird migration is still happening! Here is yesterday's complete list of … Continue reading Pine Siskins never end!
Greetings to those joining us. It's been a while since we posted an update. This tends to happen each year around this time. Things get crazy at the park. Between getting ready for summer visitors, the bird festival, birdathons, and other activities, the blog sometimes takes a hit. Despite this the birds have been coming. … Continue reading Migration Waning
After a four day absence, the longshore flight from the Indiana Dunes State Park returned this morning, Tuesday, March 22. Officially, the first count of meteorological spring, today brought the arrival of many birds of such season. Overall today's flight was mediocre in quantity, but made up for in quality. Early morning overcast finally cleared … Continue reading Spring’s Return
The longshore flight continues. Despite the warming weather, leafing trees, and all the signs of Memorial Day and the start of the summer season, there are still thousands of birds that will be logged from the platform before we call spring migration finished. Today's count of 2,295 birds helped push the season count to 250,000 … Continue reading 250,000 birds! … but not done yet.
Today was an important day. It's the day before the Indiana Audubon Big May Day count. It's also the day before International Migratory Bird Day. The weather patterns now may dictate the birds we can log tomorrow. After being nearly a week behind schedule, some amazing winds have brought 4 excellent migration nights and each … Continue reading Monsoons
May 8 was the little longshore flight that could. Under steamy conditions and a strong south gale, passerines streamed out of areas to our south in search of bug infested zones to raise their young. May 8 was also the longshore flight that just came short of some record breaking counts. To come second or … Continue reading Lake Michigan Neotropical Madness!
Today's longshore flight brought another good day of migration. Despite the east winds, with northerly tendencies (especially after noon) the day ended being the best flight of the season and sixth best of all time according to the Grube Magnitude index (65.80 specifically). 88 species, making up 2,790 birds were logged today. Warblers were … Continue reading Tail Wagging Warblers
The first week of May and her wild swings of weather fits seems to be settling down a bit and may actually reward us for all we've waited for this past two months. If the forecast is right, some warm southerly winds may envelope us for an extended period, beginning as early as Wednesday. South … Continue reading Birdathon Time! aka. mom and dad, please send money!
April 30 continued the third straight day of warm, moist air blowing in. Birds have been forced to dodge rain storms, but a stalled out front has allowed for continuing migration, while overnight radar to our west show a shutdown system. The last few days have been a nice save to another cold month. While … Continue reading Wrapping up April
Indiana Dunes Migration Birding 