Double-crested Cormorants and Northern Gannets were again the name of the game today at the seawatch. Large lines of cormorants were seen throughout the day, with peaks in the morning and late afternoon. The gannet show was great again today, with foraging birds working fish fairly close to shore both in the morning and afternoon.
Although the count was dominated by these two species, there was a smattering of ducks, with the following headliners: 327 Northern Pintail (most in the first 3 hours after sunrise flying high), 3 Greater Scaup hens, 5 Common Eiders that passed together in one group, 3 Bufflehead, and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers. Three Parasitic Jaegers chasing terns were seen close to sunset. A Tricolored Heron flew in and perched on the jetty.
There was another nice push of wading birds this evening, with 10 Great Blue Herons, 65 Great Egrets, and 3 Snowy Egrets migrating during the last hour before sunset. What a great way to end the day!
A list of species detected follows, with counted migrants in bold:
9,838 migrants today.
Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/16/10
Number of species: 56
Brant 51
Canada Goose 83
Wood Duck 22
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 120
Mallard 3
Northern Pintail 327
Green-winged Teal 84
Greater Scaup 3
Common Eider 5
Surf Scoter 194
Black Scoter 220
Surf/Black Scoter 10
Bufflehead 3
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Red-throated Loon 19
Common Loon 33
Northern Gannet 1292
Brown Pelican 1
Double-crested Cormorant 7127
Great Cormorant 1 local
Great Blue Heron 24
Great Egret 75
Snowy Egret 3
Tricolored Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 3
Northern Harrier 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Black-bellied Plover 40
Semipalmated Plover 10
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 40
Ruddy Turnstone 2
Sanderling 20
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
Laughing Gull 83
Ring-billed Gull 24
Herring Gull 13
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Caspian Tern 10
Forster's Tern 200
Royal Tern 10
Parasitic Jaeger 3
Rock Pigeon 30
Tree Swallow 200
American Robin 1
European Starling 75
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
Savannah Sparrow 1
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 25
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