Incubation underway -- female Great Horned Owl on her nest, with the male perched nearby, an early moment in the 2026 nesting season. Each winter, the return of the Great Horned Owls to the Copper Country Bird Club's nest box on Skyline Center in Hancock is one of the most exciting signs that the nesting season is underway. This year, the pair has returned once again - and we’re happy to report that at least one egg has already been observed in the nest . A screenshot showin

Winter birding in the Copper Country is a special thing. With snow on the ground and temperatures dropping well below freezing, the birds we see are doing something remarkable: they are surviving long, cold months that would quickly overwhelm an unprepared body. Survival through winter isn’t magic. It’s the result of a suite of physical adaptations, behavioral strategies, and energetic decisions that allow birds to maintain body heat, find enough fuel, and endure conditions t

If you live in, work in, or are visiting the Houghton area, chances are you’ve noticed that the Keweenaw is a special place for birds. From spring migrants moving along Lake Superior’s shoreline to resident species that stick it out through winter, this region plays an outsized role in the lives of birds - and in the people who care about them. The Copper Country Bird Club exists to support that connection through research, conservation, and shared learning across the Keweena

In 2025, Tim Baerwald conducted a raptor and owl banding study in the Keweenaw Peninsula and Manitou Island with funding from CCBC. This work built on past club surveys that documented a major concentration of migrating hawks on Manitou Island. While diurnal raptor migration at Manitou Island has long been recognized, Tim’s study revealed a previously unknown major concentration point for migrating owls. Notably, he banded nationally significant numbers of the poorly understo