Sea Watch Thursday September 23, 2010

The Avalon Seawatch was excellent for the early date today. Winds from the north all day long led to a diverse flight with good numbers of individuals across the board. The day started off well, as the 2nd bird of the morning was a male Common Eider winging its way south. There were solid numbersof Great Blue Herons, Black Skimmers, Double-crested Cormorants, Northern Pintail, and Green-winged Teal, and 2 Parasitic Jaegers within a 20 minute time span kept the middle of the day interesting. The flight finished off strong, with a flock of 10 Blue-winged Teal flying by in the last hour, while 92 Royal Terns were counted in the last 20 minutes of the day.

The primary seabird counter, Steve Kolbe takes up his post tomorrow and will be on for the next 5 days; if you're in town make sure you head up to Avalon and say hi.

1,922 Individuals were counted today; complete eBird list below w/Seawatch species in bold.

This Caspian Tern pleased the few people gathered at the Seawatch by repeatedly hunting at point blank range directly in front of the watch, just beyond the breakwall. Notice the extensive black on the underside of the primaries, which is a useful feature for distinguishing Caspian Terns from Royal Terns. The Avalon Seawatch is a phenomenal place to see Caspian Terns right now, and they're especially stunning in the afternoon light.
(photo copyright Doug Gochfeld)

One of several flocks of Black Skimmers that passed the Seawatch today. Word has it they had an exceptionally successful breeding season to the north of us, so we should be seeing many more as the fall progresses. (photo copyright Doug Gochfeld)

Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 9/23/10
Number of species: 42

Wood Duck 1
American Black Duck 3
Blue-winged Teal 10
Northern Pintail 59
Green-winged Teal 54
Common Eider 1
Surf Scoter 17
Black Scoter 31
Common Loon 2
Northern Gannet 39
Brown Pelican 19
Double-crested Cormorant 795
Great Blue Heron 24
Great Egret 20
Snowy Egret 12
Osprey 4
Black-bellied Plover 3
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Sanderling 75
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 435
Herring Gull 16
Great Black-backed Gull 116
Caspian Tern 11
Common Tern 50
Forster's Tern 96
Royal Tern 121
Black Skimmer 20
Parasitic Jaeger 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Tree Swallow 25
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 3
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Palm Warbler 1
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
House Sparrow 10