Today was excellent up at Avalon. It started off with Double-crested Cormorants coming through before sunrise, and shortly thereafter Laughing Gulls joined the fun in numbers. Both of these species were passing by in excellent numbers throughout the entire day, and we ended with more than 16,000 Double-crested Cormorants (So you'd be correct if you were to say that tons of Cormorants passed by the Seawatch today), and over 700 Laughing Gulls.
After a slow start this morning, Scoters began blasting by during the sixth hour (which coincided with the shift in wind direction from north to northeast), and stayed steady until dark (including 8 White-winged Scoters). I believe this was the first day this season in which Red-throated Loons outnumbered Common Loons (edging them out by just one), and this will be a regular occurrence going forward. 8 Great Cormorants (picked out of the minority of Cormorants which passed close enough to the watch to allow for specific ID), and a single Red-breasted Merganser also indicated how close we are to peak season at Avalon.
Passerine highlights were a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow in the pines, a Dark-eyed Junco that came in off the water, and a couple of flyover American Pipits.
21,557 Total Individuals of 25 species were counted today. Complete eBird list (with data sheet birds in bold) follows:
Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 10/13/10
Notes: North wind, then shifting to NE. mostly clear with some scattered low
clouds.
Number of species: 60
Brant (Atlantic) 60
Canada Goose 28
American Black Duck 8
Northern Pintail 8
Green-winged Teal 62
dabbling duck sp. 1
Surf Scoter 1062
White-winged Scoter 8
Black Scoter 2264
Surf/Black Scoter 525
Red-breasted Merganser 1
duck sp. 38
Red-throated Loon 18
Common Loon 17
Northern Gannet 59
Brown Pelican 15
Double-crested Cormorant 16452
Great Cormorant 8
Great Blue Heron 11
Great Egret 20
Snowy Egret 11
Little Blue Heron 15 Townsend's Inlet
Tricolored Heron 12 Townsend's Inlet
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 5
Northern Harrier 2
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 4
Black-bellied Plover 30
Semipalmated Plover 8
American Oystercatcher 54
Ruddy Turnstone 8
Sanderling 150
Dunlin 6
Laughing Gull 739
Ring-billed Gull 47
Herring Gull 33
Great Black-backed Gull 12
Caspian Tern 15
Forster's Tern 140
Royal Tern 57
Black Skimmer 2
Rock Pigeon X
Fish Crow 1
Tree Swallow X
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
American Robin 5
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
American Pipit 2
Cedar Waxwing X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1 Juvenile in Pines
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Boat-tailed Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 18
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 30
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