Whitefish Point Bird Observatory
Waterbird count at Whitefish Point
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| Organization | Michigan Audubon Society |
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| Location | Chippewa County, Michigan USA |
| Coordinates | 46°46′14″N 84°57′24″W / 46.77056°N 84.95667°WCoordinates: 46°46′14″N 84°57′24″W / 46.77056°N 84.95667°W |
| Established | 1978 |
| Website | www.wpbo.org |
 Location of Whitefish Point Bird Observatory
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The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO) is located in Chippewa County, Michigan, USA, adjacent to the Whitefish Point Unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. It operates as a non-profit, affiliate education and research facility of the Michigan Audubon Society. The Society and the WPBO together have recorded over 300 species of birds at Whitefish Point. As one of a network of bird observatories in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network, the WPBO documents the bird population of the Great Lakes region through bird banding, data collection, and research studies.
Birders from the Ontario Bird Banding Association and the Cranbrook Institute of Science established a spring hawk banding project in 1966 at Whitefish Point that was later expanded to survey migrating owls. This project lasted from 1966–1971 and was the forerunner of the WPBO.
Michigan Audubon formed a Whitefish Point Committee in 1976 to secure a license for access to the U.S. Coast Guard Whitefish Point Light Station except for the automated light and foghorn. The WPBO was established in 1978 as a non-profit organization supported by membership fees, donations and gifts, voluntary service, and grants from private and government institutions.
WPBO began annual monitoring of spring migrations beginning in 1979. By 1989 it expanded to include the monitoring of fall migrations and additional interpretative and research activities. In 1998, Michigan Audubon received a federal land patent for 2.69 acres (0.0109 km2; 0.00420 sq mi) of the old light station property, which is now managed by the WPBO for research and educational activities.
Due to the researchers' exposure to extreme weather, WPBO adopted the procedures of observatories in Britain that use small buildings along the rocky points of the coast where people can stay to monitor migrating birds and keep records and report observations at the stations during migration. The WPBO has collaborated with Michigan Audubon to record over 300 species of birds at Whitefish Point.
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Wikipedia