Ever wonder about migrants crossing the open waters of Lake Superior? While aboard the U of MN Large Lakes Observatory's R/V Blue Heron May 23-27 and in the near vicinity of NOAA weather buoy 45006 situated in Lake Superior (http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45006), I saw the following migrants: American Redstart (2), Tree Swallow, Chestnut-sided Warbler (2), Northern Waterthrush, Canada Warbler, another unidentified warbler, an unidentified falcon, and a flock of 30+ small-ish shorebirds (flying by ? bigger than peeps, smaller than mid-size shorebird types). On other trips to the same site, I've seen Peregrine Falcon, Northern Flicker, and Black-throated Green Warbler. An American Coot was seen swimming along 10+ miles off the Apostle Islands on the 23rd. The ship's crew keeps a running list of species seen while on the Lake. Last summer, a young-of-the-year Northern Sawhet Owl spent a day on board the ship 30 miles east of the Keewenaw Peninsula.
LOTs of migrants could be heard the evening of May 23. That evening was calm and foggy. The first call notes sounded to me like shorebirds, after that most of the chips were a mystery to me. One of the crew members commented that the birds in the nighttime fog looked liked bats. The weather turned cold, windy and rainy on the 24th. A Northern Waterthrush and American Redstart were found dead on board. Another American Redstart joined us on the 26th and survived the trip back to Duluth, flying off to Park Point on the 27th. In pleasant weather, warblers on board forage for food. (You'd be surprised how many flies there are out in the middle of the lake.) The birds are quite approachable and if you remain still, will eventually land nearby for great looks. I once had an adult male Black-throated Green perch on my lap; on this cruise, an adult male Chestnut-sided landed on my shirt collar. It's a thrill to be so close to the birds but at the same time hard to imagine that they'll survive the flight to land, especially when the weather turns sour. Sarah Grosshuesch
