The 2025 Brock Fall Waterbird Count is off and running. And as expected, the first week was… sort of slow. That’s August for you. Without a strong front to stir things up, we got a handful of shorebirds and a few highlights, but nothing that’s going to make you stop swatting the sand flies.
Today, August 22, would have been Dr. Ken Brock’s 88th birthday. Hard to think of this count without him. Every checklist we make here traces back to the decades he spent proving just how important this stretch of shoreline is. It feels fitting to kick off another season in his name, even if migration has only just started to stir.
This year also comes with a challenge. Over 75% of the federal funding that once supported this count has been cut, and we’re working hard to keep the effort alive. If you value the data and the tradition, consider chipping in to help sustain it: indianaaudubon.org/donate
.Here’s what the first week brought us:
- The first of this week’s two Baird’s Sandpipers showed up Tuesday, giving us our first real “migrant of note” for the season. A Merlin zipped by that same day.
- Wednesday’s star was a well-photographed Little Gull, a sharp-looking immature bird.
- Yesterday’s prize was a orange flagged Piping Plover, one of the Great Lakes birds. Always a treat to see one of these rare beauties moving along the beach.
The forecast is calm and southerly for a day or so, but a nice push of north winds will arrive on Sunday, with strongest conditions for migration Monday and Tuesday mornings. The first Long-tailed Jaeger can show up any day now. The count is about to ramp up, but for now we’ll take the scattered shorebirds and enjoy the slow burn of August.
For the full August trip report with species lists and checklists, head over to eBird: IAS Fall Lake Michigan Waterbird Survey – August 2025.
Tags: fall waterbird survey shorebirds
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