"Some spillover of the loon flight might be in evidence tomorrow morning, though I can't imagine it'll even compare to what happened today."
Those were the words I used to quasi-predict today's flight at the Seawatch. I was wrong.
Today brought an even stronger flight to Avalon. Red-throated Loons were again the main course, but were also joined by nearly 30,000 scoter and big numbers of various other species. Loons started early, and reached a peak of over 3,100 in a single hour during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, the flight shut down about an hour before sundown, possibly due in part to a steady, soaking rain that took hold around 2pm.
Most big flights usually have at least one highlight bird, and today was no different- though it didn't feature a single species. An interesting hybrid gull, most likely a Black-headed X Ring-billed, flew past during the late-morning. Expect photos of it to appear on either this blog or on View From the Cape in the near future.
The totals below are once again thanks in large part to a dedicated group of folks who volunteered to help out today. Huge thanks go to Clay Sutton (who I left out yesterday, but devoted many hours over the past two days), Pat Sutton, Gerry & Chris Dewaghe, Tom Johnson, Melissa Roach, Michael O'Brien, Kevin Karlson, and Scott Whittle.
Brant - 3
Wood Duck - 3
American Wigeon - 31
American Black Duck - 67
Mallard - 13
Northern Shoveler - 4
Northern Pintail - 2
Green-winged Teal - 433
Redhead - 9
Ring-necked Duck - 1
Greater Scaup - 43
Lesser Scaup - 63
Common Eider - 27
Surf Scoter - 13,633
White-winged Scoter - 251
Black Scoter - 13,515
dark-winged scoter - 2,237
scoter, sp. - 64
Long-tailed Duck - 14
Bufflehead - 23
Hooded Merganser - 14
Red-breasted Merganser - 1,213
Red-throated Loon - 15,787
Common Loon - 59
Horned Grebe - 2
Northern Gannet - 1,340
Double-crested Cormorant - 12
Great Cormorant - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Laughing Gull - 142
Bonaparte's Gull - 516
Ring-billed Gull - 89
Herring Gull - 65
Royal Tern - 3
Parasitic Jaeger - 1
(Total = 49,728)
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