Sea Watch Thursday October 14, 2010

The Seawatch can be a great place to get up close and personal with Peregrine Falcons, as they often hunt the shorebirds hanging around the Jetty.

It's mixed duck flock time at the Avalon Seawatch. Here a Blue-winged Teal joins three Northern Pintail. The Teal isn't a very abundant bird at the Seawatch, so it's always a nice find.

It was a decent morning at Seawatch before the rain rolled in and shut down most avian movement. Green-winged Teals were moving in good numbers (including a couple of flocks of over 40 individuals). Northern Gannets and Laughing Gulls were also moving all day, albeit in modest numbers. There was a bit of a Scoter and Cormorant flight but it was a bit underwhelming compared to yesterday.

The unquestionable highlight of the day actually came just before sunrise. I watched as a high flying Parasitic Jaeger came in from the north and all of a sudden dove on, and hit, a large dark bird flying low over the water. That bird turned out to be a Juvenile Peregrine Falcon carrying prey. After the one dive-bombing the Jaeger veered off to the east and continued on its way while the Peregrine continued on towards land as if nothing had happened. It's events like this that make the Seawatch such an amazing place to be; you never know what you're going to see.

3,865 Individuals were counted today. Complete eBird list follows, with (N->S) migrating seabirds in bold.

Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/14/10
Notes: East winds and partly cloudy before noon, becoming overcast and very
rainy with winds out of the north in the afternoon.
Number of species: 56

Brant (Atlantic) 2
Wood Duck 1
American Wigeon 23
American Black Duck 9
Blue-winged Teal 1
Northern Shoveler 1
Northern Pintail 8
Green-winged Teal 215
dabbling duck sp. 8
Greater Scaup 1
Surf Scoter 260
Black Scoter 408
Surf/Black Scoter 48
duck sp. 20
Red-throated Loon 10
Common Loon 16
Northern Gannet 459
Brown Pelican 16
Double-crested Cormorant 1939
Great Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Turkey Vulture 2
Osprey 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 3
Black-bellied Plover 65
Semipalmated Plover 10
Ruddy Turnstone X
Sanderling X
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Dunlin 35
Laughing Gull 226
Ring-billed Gull 55
Herring Gull 18
Great Black-backed Gull 13
Caspian Tern 7
Forster's Tern 6
Royal Tern 86
Black Skimmer 2
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Rock Pigeon 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Fish Crow 1
Tree Swallow 4000
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
House Sparrow 30