Avalon Seawatch October 23, 2010

The seawatch was fairly slow but steady today, but there was enough activity to always be looking at something, and enough excitement to keep most everyone satisfied. Northern Gannets (2107) and Green-winged Teal (791) were the stars of the seawatch today, with lots of gannets in the first few hours and a steady stream of teal all day.

Double-crested Cormorants again put in a decent showing, with 4 Great Cormorants adding variety. A nice assortment of dabbling ducks was counted today, which is always a highlight. Loons were migrating in decent numbers early again today.

A few non-waterbird migrants today: singles of Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, and American Pipit. An American Woodcock came in off the water early, which was really awesome to see. A Northern Flicker successfully made it back to land after being stooped on repeatedly by a young Peregrine Falcon.

A list of species detected follows, with counted migrants in bold:

9,056 migrants today.

Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/23/10
Number of species: 64

Brant 72
Canada Goose 59
Wood Duck 133
Gadwall 2
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 101
Mallard 2
Northern Shoveler 9
Northern Pintail 112
Green-winged Teal 791
Lesser Scaup 4
Common Eider 4
Surf Scoter 651
Black Scoter 577
Surf/Black Scoter 58
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Red-throated Loon 40
Common Loon 47
Northern Gannet 2107
Brown Pelican 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3956
Great Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 6
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 3
Black-bellied Plover 15
Semipalmated Plover 20
Killdeer 1
American Oystercatcher 40
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Sanderling 20
Least Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 20
American Woodcock 1
Laughing Gull 74
Ring-billed Gull 27
Herring Gull 24
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Forster's Tern 72
Royal Tern 82
Rock Pigeon 25
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Tree Swallow 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 7
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 20
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 12
Palm Warbler 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Purple Finch 1
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 20