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
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