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Copper Country Audubon
Patterson Island Slate Islands
I was certain that there was a waterbird flight path that connected Nipigon Bay, the Slate Islands, Michipicoten and Caribou Islands in the eastern part of Lake Superior. In May of 2015, Greg Cleary and Joseph Youngman were dropped off on Patterson Island to see if waterbirds were skimming along the west edge of the Slates. We saw a pretty good migration there.
The scenery was fabulous, the vegetation was amazingly thick in most areas. Our hiking was rather limited. We saw Woodland Caribou scat but not the critters themselves. Our report is here -----
Dropped off on Patterson Island by Discovery Charters of Rossport.
Greg at the count site along SW shore
Our tents on the shoreline of Horace Cove
Two views of shoreline, south of Horace Cove on Patterson Island.
Here is a map of my estimation of the waterbird flyways across the eastern two thirds of Lake Superior in the fall. In some cases I believe the spring lines are rather different. But in the case of the Caribou-Michipicoten- Slates- Nipigon Bay flyway, I believe the spring is just a mirror image of the fall.
Reverse the direction of the red arrows on this map.
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