Seawatch – 8 November 2014

"Good times today! The Avalon Seawatch was a rocking the whole day today, and in fact things got so hectic in the early AM, I had to call Tom to come up and help me count for a while till the pacing slowed to more manageable levels. It was a good flight today with over 34,000 birds being recorded. Seven species had totals in the thousands and Wood Duck, Northern Pintail, Bufflehead, and Red-throated Loon all had their highest counts so far for the season. Scoters, Green-winged Teal and Northern Gannets also had strong flights today. One of my favorite parts about waterbird counting are flocks of dabblers. We are all familiar with them as part of a pond or spring marsh scene, but watching them in active migration, often flying high up in the clouds over the water really gets my juices going! Very exciting was in the second hour was an American Woodcock that came flying off the ocean and headed quickly between the houses. Tom had encountered several (including sadly many road-killed individuals already in lower Cape May), so obviously a big push of that species occurred overnight. But the bird of the day came late and was well timed. Just as NJAS naturalists Shaun Bamford and Gail Dwyer were wrapping up their excellent waterbird flight workshop program, a Short-eared Owl was spotted circling nearby over the ocean. Everyone got a great look and it was a lifer for many participants!  Exciting stuff!" – S. H.

[ABOVE: Short-eared Owl. BELOW: Green-winged Teal. Photos by Skye Haas.]

 

 

 

 

Observation time: 0633 – 1708
Observer: Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 10
Brant – 30
Wood Duck – 245
American Wigeon – 13
American Black Duck – 58
Mallard – 6
Mallard/Black Duck – 7
Northern Shoveler – 20
Northern Pintail – 226
Green-winged Teal – 1,254
Ring-necked Duck – 1
Greater Scaup – 14
Lesser Scaup – 19
scaup, sp. – 13
duck, sp. – 272
Surf Scoter – 2,576
White-winged Scoter – 10
Black Scoter – 11,805
Black/Surf Scoter – 5,461
Long-tailed Duck – 13
Bufflehead – 210
Red-breasted Merganser – 36
Red-throated Loon – 1,357
Common Loon – 63
loon, sp. – 17
Horned Grebe – 2
Northern Gannet – 4,551
Double-crested Cormorant – 2,483
Great Cormorant – 3
Great Blue Heron – 2
Laughing Gull – 84
Bonaparte's Gull – 295
Ring-billed Gull – 40
Great Black-backed Gull – 16
Forster's Tern – 728
Royal Tern – 11
Parasitic Jaeger – 9
waterbird, sp. – 150

American Oystercatcher – 1
Black-bellied Plover – 19
Killdeer – 1
Semipalmated Plover – 2
Sanderling – 300
Dunlin – 900
Purple Sandpiper – 2
American Woodcock – 1

Total: 33,336