Borealis Birding

05/15/2025

Howdy all! Louie Dombroski, Gary Palmer and I will be running a big day in support of the research programs at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. We are all former counters at WPBO, and are happy to help the Observatory fund their counts. Our team, the Yoopland Sandpipers will be tearing across Delta County in the southern UP on May 24th to try and see as many species of birds as we possibly can to helpp raise money to continue the vital bird monitoring that WPBO has conducted for over forty years now.

Recently WPBO has gained a Research Director, hired a fantastic field staff that has been breaking some record high counts of birds and has been collecting data for an experimental Morning Flight Count for the first time ever!

Please consider donating or pledging to our efforts to help keep WPBO’s count programs running as well as expanding! We are grateful for for any assistance you can provide! Here is a link to support our big day!

https://wpbo.org/birdathon/

03/17/2025

The Raptor Count at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory is Underway

Spring migration is in motion, and the WPBO Spring Raptor Count is officially underway. From March 15 through May 31, dedicated raptor counter Sean McLaughlin will be stationed at Whitefish Point, documenting the movement of migrating birds of prey.

Sean is a seasoned hawk watcher from Pennsylvania with experience counting raptors along the Appalachian ridges and, more recently, at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Minnesota. This season, he’s eager to experience migration and track the incredible diversity of raptors passing through Whitefish Point.

Follow along with the count in real time on Trektellen: https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/4562

If you're visiting Whitefish Point this spring, be sure to stop by the hawk deck, say hello to Sean, and witness the spectacle of raptor migration in action.

03/11/2025

I just returned from a delightful jaunt through beautiful Belize!

01/13/2025

Heya folks! Been a minute since I've checked in with everyone here at Borealis Birding. I'm gearing up for the 2025 tour season and it is already really filling up fast. But I do want to push one tour in particular- my spring Texas migration and Hill Country tour in mid April. One of my most birdy trips of the year, we regularly get 260-280 species of bird and when the winds are just right, the migration can be stupendous along the coast!

This is a guaranteed tour to run but still has a lot of room for sign-ups so if you want to get a jump on your spring migration, please join us!

The Upper Texas Coast is a birding paradise during the spring. Our Texas Spring birding tour will take in the migration spectacle as tens of thousands of birds pass through this region. We will visit High Island, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, the extensive salt flats and marshes of the Bolivar P...

07/19/2024

In June 2024, I had the opportunity to assist my colleague Gavin Bieber on a WINGS tour to Alaska. I had been there before, but this trip would be twice as long, and cover far more ground. We had a base camp in Anchorage, but spent a bit of time each in Nome, Seward, Denali Highway/Fairbanks, and up to Utqiagvik(Barrow). Alaska is a spell-binding place and I treasure every experience I've had there. This was a fantastic adventure, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the amazing wildlife, mind-bending scenery and getting a chance to even socialize a touch as there were lots of friends old and new up leading their own tours across this land primeval. I'm already excited to go back next year!

Here is the ebird trip report if you would like to see a full accounting of the birds and mammals I saw there.
https://ebird.org/tripreport/250048

03/19/2024

Just finished up a very successful tour of Belize! What a wonderful place to go birding!

09/11/2023

I encountered my first Orange-crowned Warbler of the fall a couple days ago on September 8th. This is typically the last species of warbler to appear in fall migration and is one of the most regularly misidentified bird species at this time of year. I suspect many birders confuse this species for another bird in the same genus, Tennessee Warbler. While for the most part adult Tennessee Warblers have enough plumage differences to easily separate them, the problem lies with very fresh juvie Tennessee Warblers. With the young birds, they can present as a very greenish monochrome bird and what trips up most birders is that the pale supercilium that is normally pretty bold, starts off with a greenish wash over it, making it almost disappear from contrasting with the rest of the face. The other issue is Tennessee shows a yellowish-green flanks and vent; this feature is mistaken for the undertail coverts as the bird twists around rapidly foraging trying to fuel up for the next leg of its journey. A secondary characteristic to use is- I had to grab my jacket to bird that morning! Even on Lake Superior, Orange-crowns typically don't even make their first appearance until the weather turns a bit colder, to see one before Labor Day on the shores of Lake Superior is notable! Even then they don't start to move till there is that nip in the air and other classic mid/late September migrants make an appearance such as Rusty Blackbird, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Lapland Longspur and Winter Wren start migrating. If you take a look at my eBird checklist from that morning, you'll see that I had all of those species as well that morning, all first of fall migrants for me. A take-away tip might be, if you're sweating while wearing shorts and tee-shirt, it might not be an Orange-crowned in front of you and worth a second, more critical look!

Submitted by Skye Haas.

09/07/2023

It's 9-06! Which is both Upper Peninsula Day and also International Shorebird Day! So what better excuse to go back into the photo archives and post some of my favorite pictures of shorebirds taken here in da Yoop!

08/22/2023

As I mentioned a while back ago, the Hummingbirds from my July SE Arizona tour were incredible and worthy of their own post. The numbers of individuals and species were fantastic and we tallied in 15 species of hummer, a feat I've only been able to do once before in the US!

08/09/2023

I’m so excited to announce this exciting opportunity! This November I’ll be teaming up with longtime colleagues and friends Cameron Cox and Allison Anholt of Avocet Birding Courses to conduct a three day birding class we call Bird Camp! All three of us love to interact with birding enthusiasts to give them the platform to improve upon their skills as birders and expand their knowledge of the amazing biology of birds. This weekend workshop will be a mix of indoor educational presentations and field outings and geared towards people of all birding experience. We will conduct these sessions in the fabulously birdy South Texas coastal region of the Rio Grande Valley where we will have opportunities to see large numbers of raptors and waterbirds as well the tropical specialties the Valley is renown for! Timed to start just before the famous Rio Grande Valley birding festival, this weekend will give you a chance to impress your friends with newfound knowledge of tricky shorebird plumages and how to better detect subtle woodland birds among many other educational opportunities offered at Bird Camp!
Click on the link below to read more and sign up for Bird Camp!

https://www.birdingabc.com/bird-camp

08/09/2023

Recently wrapped up an amazing run to the Sky Islands of southeast Arizona, leading a trip for Eagle-Eye Tours. We tallied in an amazing 181 species of birds including specialties like Elegant Trogon, Red-faced Warbler, Zone-tailed Hawk, Mexican Chickadees and several Montezuma Quail. An amazing haul of hummingbirds were recorded as well, but I think I'm going to do a seperate post for those feather jewels. The non-avian action was excellent as well, with Gray Foxes, Black Bear, Javalina and the recently elevated to full species status Robust Cottontail! The herps were fewer in number, likely due to the late monsoons, but amazing creatures like Arizona Mountain Kingsnake, Black-tailed Rattlesnake and two different Gila Monsters were observed!
Here is a link to the eBird trip report https://ebird.org/tripreport/146574

06/18/2023

Heya folks!

I’ve still got a couple seats open on my Eagle-Eye Tours trip to Southeast Arizona for the monsoon induced Second Spring! Lots of great birds have been being reported lately; come join us on this trip!

Join our Southeast Arizona birding tour, where we will be targeting the borderland specialties like Elegant Trogon, Spotted Owl, Rose-throated Becard, Mexican Chickadee, Thick-billed Kingbird and many more! This tour is timed for the start of the monsoon season, known also as the second spring; the....