Observer: Skye Haas
Species counted:
Canada Goose - 42
Brant - 18
Wood Duck - 29
Gadwall - 1
American Wigeon - 25
American Black Duck - 16
Blue-winged Teal - 6
Northern Pintail - 53
Green-winged Teal - 253
Lesser Scaup - 5
Duck sp. - 116
Surf Scoter - 18
Black Scoter - 65
Dark-winged Scoter - 3
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Red-throated Loon - 2
Common Loon - 13
Northern Gannet - 9
Brown Pelican - 5
Double-crested Cormorant - 3791
Great Blue Heron - 140
Little Blue Heron - 1
Laughing Gull - 592
Ring-billed Gull - 27
Herring Gull - 35
Caspian Tern - 2
Forster's Tern - 484
Royal Tern - 10
Tern sp. - 12
Black Skimmer - 12
Parasitic Jaeger - 2
Jaeger sp. - 1
American Oystercatcher - 93
Semipalmated Plover - 9
Black-bellied Plover - 352
Dowitcher sp. - 4
Sanderling - 52
Dunlin - 3
Redknot - 36
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 4
Calidris sp. - 24
Shorebird sp. - 320
Total: 6,685
A note from Skye:
Now this is more like it! Finally days of hot south winds were at an end and a cold front overnight got the waterbirds all riled up. The count was good right out the starting gates this morning and kept pumping well into the late afternoon until the encroaching rain finally shut things down. It was a great dabbler day, with most of the species being seen, including the first Gadwall of the season. Another duck making its first appearance for the fall was a single Red-breasted Merganser. The early morning light was harsh, and too many ducks were flying out over the ocean into the sun, but by mid-morning, the light was perfect on them and provided some great looks.
Double-crested Cormorants made a good show, and I was treated to an excellent flight of Great Blue Herons. I've quickly come to appreciate the flights of these ponderous birds, often migrating high and far out over the ocean. Michael O'Brian sent out a message that after dark there was a large lift-off of herons from Cape May Point, and the few minutes I spent in our staff house driveway, I was impressed with the number of squawks and croaks coming down from the misty evening. Interestingly, even though there was a good morning/afternoon flight of herons, I had none in my last few hours of the Seawatch.
Quite a few passerines came off the ocean this morning, but between the poor morning light and a heavy duck flight, I was not able to snag too many songbirds before they headed inland. But here is what I got for non-waterbirds:
Turkey Vulture- 4, Bald Eagle- 2, Osprey- 3, Rock Pigeon- 4, Belted Kingfisher- 1, Merlin- 1, Peregrine Falcon- 4, Eastern Phoebe- 1, crow sp- 1, Brown Creeper- 1, Golden-crowned Kinglet- 4, Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 1, American Robin- 3, Northern Mockingbird- 2, American Pipit- 1, Palm Warbler- 8, Yellow-rumped Warbler- 10, Black-throated Green Warbler- 2, warbler sp- 20, Northern Cardinal- 2, Savannah Sparrow- 1, Song Sparrow-1 White-throated Sparrow- 3, sparrow sp- 6, Eastern Meadowlark- 1, House Finch- 14, House Sparrow- 9
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| Great Blue Heron. [Photo by Skye Haas.] |
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| A group of migrating Great Blue Herons. [Photo by Skye Haas.] |
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