I'd like to start out by saying it is finally nice to see the change around in the marine mammals up at Sea Watch. At the beginning of the season I would usually see the local Bottle-nose Dolphin pod almost on a daily basis, but as the weather turned cooler the headed south. It has been several weeks since I last say them, but today, as winter is upon us I say my first Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina; east coast subspecies) of the season.
And with winter almost upon us and a winter storm heading our way, it is time to discuss today's one unusual, and rather intellectually challenged, bird. Late this evening I saw a lone Brown Pelican flying North. As Steve, the Sea Watch naturalist, would say "What! Are you serious? C'mon!" This individual is a bird of very little brain; and that is all I have to say on that.
Otherwise my day was rather nice, though it was colder to start out the day than the previous two days, it was not as windy. With the wind shifting from the NW to NE the day did not turn into another big Goose day, but rather it favored the Red-throated Loons (almost 2,000 today) and to a lesser extent Northern Gannets.
Speaking of Gannets, I failed to mention this yesterday, but we broke a Sea Watch record yesterday for the high count of Gannets in a season. Yesterday we topped the Gannet count with a total 117,328 Gannets counted for the season. With today's count we continue to set a new record with a total of now 118,521 for Gannets this year. With four more days of Sea Watch left, we may yet break 120,000 Gannets.
Also, of another number milestone for this season, we broke 700,000 birds counted for this season today. Thanks to yesterdays big push of birds, we made it to this marker before the end of the season; there had been doubt if we would make it to 700,000 or not, but I am glad we did.
Another note concerning today; I had to use "Gull sp" for a gull I saw off in the distance today. It looked to be of the white-winged variety, so Ivory Gull (did it come back?), Iceland, or Glaucous Gull popped to mind, but given the distance, heat waves, and the fact that I saw it only for a split second before it disappeared south I would be hard pressed to put a positive id on the bird. But for those of you doing the Christmas bird count in Cape May County, be on the look out for white gulls! (If we are lucky maybe the Pelican will turn around for Sunday's Christmas Count)
Here is the break down of today's count:
Canada Goose 73
Brant 73
American Black Duck 26
Mallard 32
Northern Pintail 1
Greater Scaup 1
Surf Scoter 679
White-winged Scoter 16
Black Scoter 819
Dark-winged Scoter 94
Scoter Sp 860
Long-tailed Duck 84
Bufflehead 6
Common Goldeneye 3
Hooded Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 68
Red-throated Loon 1811
Common Loon 23
Northern Gannet 1193
Double-crested Cormorants 56
Great Cormorant 1
Bonaparte's Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 88
Herring Gull 127
Great Black-backed Gull 36
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