'Twas yet another splendid day at the Seawatch up at Avalon today. Despite some difficult conditions for optics throughout the day (due to the strong NE wind, which produced a prodigious amount of sea spray), the sheer number of birds made it very enjoyable. Of the 30,000+ (!) Scoters, over 9,000 went unidentified to species due to the extreme distance of much of the flight, but of those identified there were an excellent number of White-winged Scoters (268). Red-breasted Mergansers also put on a really good show, with several double-digit sized flocks, including one totaling 35 individuals, going by.
The weather for tomorrow is forecast to be similar to what it was today, and so if that's any indicator tomorrow should be good as well. Of course that's contingent on there being any birds left to fly after the mass exodus that took place today. However, considering we haven't even seen any large movements of Red-throated Loons yet, I would say there are still plenty of waterbirds to come at Avalon. So come on out and visit the Seawatch...but only if you're okay with seeing thousands of birds migrating (this can be achieved in just a few minutes sometimes, including today when over 14,500 birds passed by in a two hour stretch at one point).
Total individuals counted: 35,213
Location: Avalon Seawatch
Observation date: 11/11/10
Number of species: 48
Brant (Atlantic) 144
Canada Goose 1
Wood Duck 1
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 50
Northern Shoveler 1
Northern Pintail 11
Green-winged Teal 112
Greater Scaup 12
Lesser Scaup 11
Greater/Lesser Scaup 5
Aythya sp. 1
Surf Scoter 11295
White-winged Scoter 268
Black Scoter 10791
Surf/Black Scoter 3125
scoter sp. 6155
Long-tailed Duck 3
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 276
duck sp. 36
Red-throated Loon 354
Common Loon 18
Red-necked Grebe 1
Northern Gannet 61
Double-crested Cormorant 1425
Black-bellied Plover 3
American Oystercatcher 9
Willet (Western) 3
Red Knot 35
Sanderling 40
Purple Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 50
Laughing Gull 26
Ring-billed Gull 461
Herring Gull 523
Great Black-backed Gull 39
Caspian Tern 2
Royal Tern 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 3
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Snow Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Brown-headed Cowbird 60
Pine Siskin 1
House Sparrow 55
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