Avalon Seawatch October 1, 2010

It was an interesting day today at the seawatch. The day started with rain and low visibility, changed to overcast with strong winds, and then finally the sun poked out for a bit before it went below the horizon. It was also entertaining bird-wise, with nearly 1,000 Double-crested Cormorants, 5 Parasitic Jaegers, and the first two Brant of the season.

Other highlights included two separate Peregrine Falcon/Sanderling chases and one Merlin/Tree Swallow chase. Two Barn Swallows and two Bank Swallows were seen flying low over the water flying north. An adult Brown Pelican made numerous point-blank passes in front of the watch.

The last hour of the count showed some promise for tomorrow, with a dozen Monarchs moving south, a push of Northern Pintails, and a few other migrants. Keep your fingers crossed for migrants everywhere tomorrow!

A list of species detected follows, with counted migrants in bold:

Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/1/10
Number of species: 36

Brant 2
Northern Pintail 25
Black Scoter 15 all flying north
Common Loon 1
Northern Gannet 8
Brown Pelican 6
Double-crested Cormorant 918
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Osprey X
Bald Eagle 1
Merlin 1 chasing Tree Swallows
Peregrine Falcon 2 chasing Sanderlings
Semipalmated Plover 30
American Oystercatcher 10
Ruddy Turnstone 3
Sanderling 50
Least Sandpiper 3
White-rumped Sandpiper 1 on jetty
Pectoral Sandpiper 2 flyby going into inlet
Laughing Gull 23
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Caspian Tern X
Common Tern 13
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 2
Black Skimmer 1
Parasitic Jaeger 5
Rock Pigeon X
Tree Swallow 200
Bank Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 2
House Sparrow X

No comments:

Post a Comment