It was a very enjoyable early October day today at the seawatch. A gorgeous day to be outside yielded 7,926 migrants, with notable numbers of Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Northern Gannets, and Double-crested Cormorants.
Highlights included 8 Wood Ducks, multiple looks at the young Great Cormorant that appears to already have staked out a spot for the winter(!), lots of Laughing Gulls moving early in the morning, and a nice assortment of birds coming in off the water. These included: 5 Northern Flickers, 1 Swamp Sparrow, 1 Savannah Sparrow, 1 Dark-eyed Junco, 17 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that came cruising in around 4:00 pm! I always feel really happy for these birds as they make it back to land and come to rest in the pines next to the watch. These situations also illustrate the life-or-death role even the tiniest patch of habitat can have for birds! A single Red Bat was sighted over the water today, as were lots of Monarchs early.
Also of note was a buzzer-beater Parasitic Jaeger that came ripping through chasing a Forster's Tern right at sunset to the delight of a couple of onlookers who had been hoping for just such a scenario. In the same vein, a Peregrine Falcon (one of 9 seen today) chased a flock of Green-winged Teal in circles over the water for a few minutes before giving up and coming to land. And a Cooper's Hawk halfheartedly chased a group of Sanderlings before landing briefly on the jetty.
A list of species detected follows, with counted migrants in bold:
Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/8/10
Number of species: 61
Brant 27
Canada Goose 309
Wood Duck 8
American Wigeon 6
American Black Duck 106
Mallard 6
Blue-winged Teal 9
Northern Pintail 248
Green-winged Teal 410
Surf Scoter 14
Black Scoter 62
Surf/Black Scoter 8
Common Loon 24
Northern Gannet 366
Brown Pelican 1 going north
Double-crested Cormorant 5810
Great Cormorant 1 local young bird
Great Blue Heron 7
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 7
Northern Harrier 5
Cooper's Hawk 2
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 9
Semipalmated Plover 25
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Sanderling 60
Dunlin 50
Laughing Gull 443
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 7
Great Black-backed Gull 33
Caspian Tern 10
Common Tern 2
Forster's Tern 30
Royal Tern 17
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Rock Pigeon X
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Tree Swallow 50
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 17
Palm Warbler 2
Chipping Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 3
Purple Finch 1
American Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 25
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