Seawatch – Season Recap

[Surf Scoters flying past the 7th Street seawall. Photo by Skye Haas.]

 Now that the clickers have gone silent and the sea-foam is starting to settle, let’s take a look at some noteworthy happenings from the 2014 Avalon Seawatch. *Any and all data presented here should be viewed as preliminary.

First, the basics:

·      The Seawatch was conducted during a standardized 92-day period, beginning September 22 and ending December 22. The count operated from sunrise to sunset each day, resulting in approximately 966 observation hours.

·      All observations were made from the seawall parking lot at the end of 7^th Street.

·      Skye Haas served as the primary counter, with Tom Reed covering two days a week. Sam Galick also provided additional coverage during October.

·      More than 1,000 visitors stopped at the count site during the course of the season.

Next, some highlights:

·      A total of 1,026,836 migrating waterbirds, comprising 69 species, were recorded. This total represents a new single-season record at Avalon, and is only the second time that the Seawatch has surpassed 1 million birds.

·      As per usual, peak movements occurred from late-October through mid-November. Over 615,000 birds were recorded during the period spanning October 20 – November 20, representing 60% of the season total.

·      The highest single-day total was 45,461, which occurred on October 21.

·      The season’s rarity list was headlined by Ross’s Goose, Pacific Loon (2), Great Shearwater, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Franklin’s Gull.

·      Other notables included King Eider (4), Harlequin Duck (7), Red-necked Grebe (15), Cattle Egret, Razorbill (12), Pomarine Jaeger (3), Black-legged Kittiwake (12), Little Gull (2), and Iceland Gull (4).

Season totals and peak dates for the 5 most abundant species in 2014*:

Species	Season Total	Peak Flight	Peak Flight Date
Black Scoter	256,058	14,833	November 4
Double-crested Cormorant	204,256	21,682	October 3
Surf Scoter	126,913	23,270	October 21
Northern Gannet	108,985	9,628	November 15
Red-throated Loon	76,977	9,592	November 15

Lastly, some fun facts:

·      Total birds ÷ observation days = 11,161 birds per day.

·      Total birds ÷ observation hours = 1,063 birds per hour.

·      Total “biomass” = approximately 2,700,000 pounds, or 1,350 tons, of migrating birds!

·      The first bird of the season was a Laughing Gull, recorded at 6:37am on September 22. The last bird was a Red-throated Loon, recorded at 4:39pm on December 22.

·      Though they are not included with the official count, 24 species of shorebirds were seen from the Seawatch during the 2014 season. Highlights included Baird’s Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, and American Golden-Plover. 

 Readers can expect a more detailed account of the season, penned by Skye Haas, to appear in this space during the next few days. Happy Holidays and many thanks to everyone who supported the 2014 Avalon Seawatch!

[September sunrise at the Seawatch. Until next year...    Photo by Tom Reed.]

Seawatch – 22 December 2014

Observation time:  0716 – 1641
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Brant – 19
aythya, sp. – 4
Common Eider – 15
Harlequin Duck – 3
Surf Scoter – 254
White-winged Scoter – 7
Black Scoter – 1,541
Surf/Black Scoter – 857
scoter, sp. – 748
Long-tailed Duck – 112
Bufflehead – 4
Red-breasted Merganser – 21
Red-throated Loon – 247
Common Loon – 5
Northern Gannet – 25
Double-crested Cormorant – 5
Great Cormorant – 1
Razorbill – 5
large alcid, sp. – 6
Black-legged Kittiwake – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 2
Ring-billed Gull – 28
Herring Gull – 29
Great Black-backed Gull – 12

Total:  3,951

Seawatch – 21 December 2014

[Iceland Gull. Photo by Skye Haas.]

Observation time:  0712 – 1656
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Greater Scaup – 1
Lesser Scaup – 3
Common Eider – 4
Surf Scoter – 413
White-winged Scoter – 2
Black Scoter – 840
Surf/Black Scoter – 2,767
Long-tailed Duck – 76
Bufflehead – 1
Common Goldeneye – 3
Red-breasted Merganser – 29
Red-throated Loon – 339
Horned Grebe – 3
Northern Gannet – 35
Double-crested Cormorant – 10
Great Cormorant – 1
Great Blue Heron – 1
large alcid, sp. – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 19
Herring Gull – 274
Iceland Gull – 2
Great Black-backed Gull – 14

Total:  4,839

Seawatch – 20 December 2014

Observation time:  0714 – 1647
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 1
Brant – 264
Greater Scaup – 7
scaup, sp. – 4
Common Eider – 1
Harlequin Duck – 2
Surf Scoter – 224
White-winged Scoter – 1
Black Scoter – 218
Surf/Black Scoter – 1,217
Long-tailed Duck – 179
Bufflehead – 1
Common Goldeneye – 5
Hooded Merganser – 2
Red-breasted Merganser – 11
duck, sp. – 14
Red-throated Loon – 612
Common Loon – 2
loon, sp. – 1
Northern Gannet – 15
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 53
Herring Gull – 285
Great Black-backed Gull – 38

Total: 3,159

Seawatch – 19 December 2014

Observation time:  0708 – 1653
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 11
Brant – 8
American Black Duck – 2
Northern Pintail – 1
Canvasback – 1
Lesser Scaup – 15
Common Eider – 15
Surf Scoter – 96
White-winged Scoter – 9
Black Scoter – 307
Surf/Black Scoter – 341
scoter, sp. – 62
Long-tailed Duck – 110
Bufflehead – 2
Common Merganser – 2
Red-breasted Merganser – 27
Red-throated Loon – 1,063
Common Loon – 13
Horned Grebe – 6
Red-necked Grebe – 1
Northern Gannet – 196
Double-crested Cormorant – 4
Great Blue Heron – 1
Razorbill – 5
Black-legged Kittiwake – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 178
Herring Gull – 306
Great Black-backed Gull – 70

Total:  2,854

Seawatch – 18 December 2014

Observation time:  0712 – 1646
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 1
Greater Scaup – 1
Common Eider – 4
Surf Scoter – 74
Black Scoter – 259
Surf/Black Scoter – 521
Long-tailed Duck – 27
Common Goldeneye – 2
Red-breasted Merganser – 15
Red-throated Loon – 167
Northern Gannet – 32
Double-crested Cormorant – 6
Great Cormorant – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 30
Herring Gull – 227
Great Black-backed Gull – 28

Total: 1,395

Seawatch – 17 December 2014

Observation time:  0712 – 1628
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 32
Common Eider – 9
Surf Scoter – 152
Black Scoter – 828
Surf/Black Scoter – 92
Long-tailed Duck – 22
Red-breasted Merganser – 1
Red-throated Loon – 42
Common Loon – 3
Northern Gannet – 16
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Great Cormorant – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 4
Herring Gull – 43
Great Black-backed Gull – 15

Total: 1,266

Seawatch – 16 December 2014

Observation time:  0713 – 1633
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 1
Common Eider – 9
Surf Scoter – 525
White-winged Scoter – 19
Black Scoter – 4,073
Surf/Black Scoter – 533
scoter, sp. – 60
Long-tailed Duck – 14
Red-breasted Merganser – 17
Red-throated Loon – 423
Common Loon – 4
Northern Gannet – 347
Double-crested Cormorant – 4
Razorbill – 1
Black-legged Kittiwake – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 40
Ring-billed Gull – 114
Herring Gull – 132
Great Black-backed Gull – 31

Total:  6,348

Seawatch – 15 December 2014

"Well it happened. A lot quicker than I was expecting too! Just the night before I was telling folks at the venerable Cape May CBC party that I was predicting it would be late this week that the magic number would be hit. Boy, was I wrong again! I will say that predicting flights at Avalon is maddeningly impossible and, daresay, rather humbling. But yes, Tom had been counting most of the day and we whittled away at the count-down. At 12:12 pm a flock of Black Scoters went winging by and the 3rd bird in the flock, a sweet-faced hen went zipping by the seawatch with the honors of being the one millionth bird tallied this season! It was a great moment and several of our core seawatch aficionados were on hand to help out. Much carousing and hugging occurred and Michael O'Brien is a wicked shot with a champagne cork! But it didn't stop there, scoters kept flying for a while and over the course of the day, 20 thousand birds went by. It's pretty absurd that scoters are flying in such big numbers this late into the season, but so it goes. Probably making up for the fact that if you remember from earlier posts in the season, it was actually a pretty delayed start to the flight this year. It's almost a little surprising we hit a million, considering the slow start and the lack of any truly huge flight days, but starting in late October we just got into a prolonged run of 10-30 thousand bird days. Numbers add up and Tom and I just kept identifying and tallying birds, and lo and behold: a million waterbirds flew by. In case you weren't aware, this is only the second time this has happened– Ken Berhens (co-author of the Peterson's Guide to Seawatching) cruised over a million birds in 2007. As a buddy of mine was mentioning, it is staggering to think about the movement of that much biomass. Migration is truly amazing. I am a lucky person to get a chance to witness it as I do. "  – S.H.

[Black Scoters. Photo by Kevin Karlson.]

[Primary counter Skye Haas (left) and swing counter Tom Reed. Photo by Kevin Karlson.]

Observation time:  0656 – 1641
Observers:  Tom Reed, Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 3
Brant – 19
American Black Duck – 3
Greater Scaup – 16
Lesser Scaup – 1
Common Eider – 3
Surf Scoter – 810
White-winged Scoter – 17
Black Scoter – 7,599
Surf/Black Scoter – 8,629
scoter, sp. – 1,586
Long-tailed Duck – 54
Bufflehead – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 26
Red-throated Loon – 1,125
Common Loon – 5
Horned Grebe – 6
Red-necked Grebe – 2
Northern Gannet – 41
Double-crested Cormorant – 45
Great Cormorant – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 117
Herring Gull – 129
Great Black-backed Gull – 7

Day Total:  20,246
Season Total:  1,003,072

Seawatch – 14 December 2014

Observation time:  0708 – 1635
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 18
Canada Goose – 2
Brant – 133
American Black Duck – 11
Northern Shoveler – 1
Common Eider – 18
Surf Scoter – 320
White-winged Scoter – 18
Black Scoter – 1,620
Surf/Black Scoter – 3,331
scoter, sp. – 50
Long-tailed Duck – 93
Bufflehead – 5
Common Goldeneye – 5
Red-breasted Merganser – 15
Red-throated Loon – 456
Common Loon – 4
Horned Grebe – 4
Northern Gannet – 4
Double-crested Cormorant – 190
Great Cormorant – 1
Great Blue Heron – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 102
Herring Gull – 649
Great Black-backed Gull – 20

Total: 7,091

Seawatch – 13 December 2014

Observation time:  0703 – 1655
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 525
Canada Goose – 276
Brant – 426
goose, sp. – 10
Gadwall – 4
American Black Duck – 8
Northern Pintail – 18
Redhead – 4
Greater Scaup – 2
Lesser Scaup – 6
scaup, sp. – 6
aythya, sp. – 7
Common Eider – 24
eider, sp. – 1
Harlequin Duck – 1
Surf Scoter – 425
White-winged Scoter – 19
Black Scoter – 2,023
Surf/Black Scoter – 2,795
scoter, sp. – 64
Long-tailed Duck – 97
Bufflehead – 5
Common Goldeneye – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 36
duck, sp. – 53
Red-throated Loon – 623
Common Loon – 8
Northern Gannet – 44
Double-crested Cormorant – 103
Great Cormorant – 2
Great Blue Heron – 1
Pomarine Jaeger – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 175
Herring Gull – 778
Great Black-backed Gull – 55

Total: 8,626

Seawatch – 12 December 2014

Observation time:  0710 – 1648
Observer: Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 57
Brant – 5
American Black Duck – 4
Greater Scaup – 1
Lesser Scaup – 2
scaup, sp. – 45
Common Eider – 1
Surf Scoter – 283
White-winged Scoter – 21
Black Scoter – 349
Surf/Black Scoter – 1,104
Long-tailed Duck – 241
Bufflehead – 8
Common Goldeneye – 10
Red-breasted Merganser – 12
duck, sp. – 193
Red-throated Loon – 552
Common Loon – 7
Horned Grebe – 8
Red-necked Grebe –1
Northern Gannet – 36
Double-crested Cormorant – 105
Great Cormorant – 3
Ring-billed Gull – 143
Herring Gull – 686
Great Black-backed Gull – 81

Total: 3,952

Seawatch – 11 December 2014

Observation time:  0702 – 1615
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
American Wigeon – 6
Mallard – 2
Northern Pintail – 13
Greater Scaup – 44
Lesser Scaup – 44
scaup, sp. – 16
Common Eider – 6
eider, sp. – 1
Surf Scoter – 135
White-winged Scoter – 5
Black Scoter – 217
Surf/Black Scoter – 442
Long-tailed Duck – 57
Bufflehead – 6
Common Goldeneye – 3
Red-breasted Merganser – 16
Red-throated Loon – 63
Common Loon – 4
Horned Grebe – 2
Northern Gannet – 31
Double-crested Cormorant – 35
Great Cormorant – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 41
Herring Gull – 121
Great Black-backed Gull – 20

Total: 1,331

Seawatch – 10 December 2014

Observation time:  0702 – 1638
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 17
Canada Goose – 8
Brant – 2
American Black Duck – 6
Lesser Scaup – 1
Common Eider – 4
Surf Scoter – 163
White-winged Scoter – 2
Black Scoter – 301
Surf/Black Scoter – 685
scoter, sp. – 17
Long-tailed Duck – 12
Red-breasted Merganser – 17
Red-throated Loon – 182
Common Loon – 6
Horned Grebe – 1
Northern Gannet – 15
Great Cormorant – 2
Great Blue Heron – 4
Ring-billed Gull – 51
Herring Gull – 136
Great Black-backed Gull – 39

Total: 1,671

Seawatch – 9 December 2014

Observation time:  0707 – 1637
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 1
Brant – 2
American Black Duck – 7
Ring-necked Duck – 1
Greater Scaup – 1
Common Eider – 4
Surf Scoter – 32
White-winged Scoter – 1
Black Scoter – 332
Surf/Black Scoter – 166
Long-tailed Duck – 15
Bufflehead – 1
Common Goldeneye – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 7
Red-throated Loon – 21
Common Loon – 2
Northern Gannet – 10
Pomarine Jaeger – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 11
Herring Gull – 33
Great Black-backed Gull – 4

Day Total:  653
Season Total:  960,273

Seawatch – 8 December 2014

Observation time:  0657 – 1637
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 22
Canada Goose – 1
Brant – 1
American Black Duck –14
Mallard – 5
Northern Shoveler – 3
Green-winged Teal – 1
Common Eider – 19
Surf Scoter – 531
White-winged Scoter – 3
Black Scoter – 3,922
Surf/Black Scoter – 3,514
scoter, sp. – 623
Long-tailed Duck – 19
Bufflehead – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 15
Red-throated Loon – 148
Common Loon – 6
Red-necked Grebe – 2
Northern Gannet – 23
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Razorbill – 1
Black-legged Kittiwake – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 163
Herring Gull – 68
Iceland Gull – 1
Great Black-backed Gull – 28

Day Total: 9,136
Season Total:  959,620

Seawatch – 7 December 2014

Observation time:  0701 – 1653
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 2
Canada Goose – 8
Brant – 122
American Black Duck – 2
Greater Scaup – 2
Lesser Scaup – 2
scaup, sp. – 8
Common Eider – 9
Surf Scoter – 426
White-winged Scoter – 4
Black Scoter – 1,237
Surf/Black Scoter – 2,136
Long-tailed Duck – 18
Bufflehead – 1
Common Goldeneye – 2
Red-breasted Merganser – 26
duck, sp. – 9
Red-throated Loon – 183
Common Loon – 6
Northern Gannet – 1,568
Double-crested Cormorant – 6
Great Cormorant – 2
Great Blue Heron – 3
Ring-billed Gull – 243
Herring Gull – 373
Great Black-backed Gull – 44

Day Total:  6,442
Season Total:  950,319

Seawatch – 6 December 2014

Observation time:  0703 – 1604
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Brant – 913
American Black Duck – 12
Lesser Scaup – 4
King Eider – 1
Common Eider – 9
Surf Scoter – 1,467
White-winged Scoter – 38
Black Scoter – 3,432
Surf/Black Scoter – 446
Long-tailed Duck – 22
Bufflehead – 4
Red-breasted Merganser – 27
duck, sp. – 1
Red-throated Loon – 432
Common Loon – 3
Northern Gannet – 810
Double-crested Cormorant – 1
Laughing Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 36
Herring Gull – 183
Great Black-backed Gull – 23
Royal Tern – 1
waterbird, sp. – 1

Day Total:  7,867
Season Total:  943,877

Seawatch – 5 December 2014

"Well I am not quite sure what happened today but scoters flew by in shockingly, perhaps even possibly unprecedented December numbers! 27,902 scoters were counted today, with over 14,000 Black Scoters and a season high total of 94 White-winged Scoters. Also having their season high count today were Red-breasted Merganser (169) and Common Eider (24). I just cannot get enough of the eiders– such great looking birds! 

Red-throated Loons are still pushing through in great numbers– a little under 2,900 were recorded today. Exciting were 3 different Red-necked Grebes that flew by; the 18 Horned Grebes seen were more in line with typical numbers for this time of year. A lone Laughing Gull was the only one for the day, and the first jaegers for December consisted of a distant pair harassing a gull. 

And no: there has been no Razorbill yet....."     – S.H.

[Above: Red-throated Loons. Photo by Sam Galick.      Below: scoter flock. Photo by Michael O'Brien.]

Observation time:  0701 – 1650
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Snow Goose – 3
Canada Goose – 26
Brant – 130
Wood Duck – 1
American Wigeon – 2
American Black Duck – 14
Mallard – 2
Northern Pintail – 1
Green-winged Teal – 19
Ring-necked Duck – 19
Greater Scaup – 1
Lesser Scaup – 19
Common Eider – 24
Surf Scoter – 4,425
White-winged Scoter – 94
Black Scoter – 14,713
Surf/Black Scoter – 5,870
scoter, sp. – 2,800
Long-tailed Duck – 67
Bufflehead – 4
Common Goldeneye – 1
Hooded Merganser – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 169
duck, sp. – 133
Red-throated Loon – 2,860
Common Loon – 11
Horned Grebe – 18
Red-necked Grebe – 3
Northern Gannet – 922
Double-crested Cormorant – 127
Great Cormorant – 4
Great Blue Heron – 2
jaeger, sp. – 2
Laughing Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 102
Herring Gull – 757
Great Black-backed Gull – 35

Day Total: 33,384
Season Total: 936,010

Seawatch – 4 December 2014

Observation time:  0659 – 1640
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 8
Brant – 48
Wood Duck – 1
American Black Duck – 20
Black Duck/Mallard – 8
Green-winged Teal – 30
Redhead – 10
Common Eider – 5
Surf Scoter – 204
White-winged Scoter – 11
Black Scoter – 2,021
Surf/Black Scoter – 2,350
scoter, sp. – 6
Long-tailed Duck – 51
Bufflehead – 8
Common Goldeneye – 1
Hooded Merganser – 3
Red-breasted Merganser – 19
duck, sp. – 29
Red-throated Loon – 1,086
Common Loon – 13
Horned Grebe – 5
Northern Gannet – 1,444
Double-crested Cormorant – 59
Great Cormorant – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 75
Herring Gull – 203
Great Black-backed Gull – 33

Total: 7,752

Seawatch – 3 December 2014

Observation time:  0706 – 1642
Observer:  Skye Haas

Species counted:
American Wigeon – 3
American Black Duck – 1
Northern Shoveler – 2
Northern Pintail – 2
Green-winged Teal – 17
Redhead – 1
Greater Scaup – 4
Lesser Scaup – 41
scaup, sp. – 4
aythya, sp. – 8
Common Eider – 7
Surf Scoter – 2,010
White-winged Scoter – 28
Black Scoter – 5,628
Surf/Black Scoter – 525
Long-tailed Duck – 48
Bufflehead – 4
Red-breasted Merganser – 18
Red-throated Loon – 1,269
Common Loon – 15
Horned Grebe – 2
Northern Gannet – 2,377
Double-crested Cormorant – 3
Great Cormorant – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 1
Laughing Gull – 1
Ring-billed Gull – 153
Herring Gull – 134
Great Black-backed Gull – 52
gull, sp. – 4

Total: 12,353

Seawatch – 2 December 2014

Observation time:  0700 – 1640
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 3
American Black Duck – 4
Green-winged Teal – 22
Canvasback – 3
Greater Scaup – 2
Lesser Scaup – 7
scaup, sp. – 2
aythya, sp. – 13
King Eider – 3
Common Eider – 7
Surf Scoter – 2,027
White-winged Scoter – 9
Black Scoter – 10,920
Surf/Black Scoter – 1,996
Long-tailed Duck – 35
Bufflehead – 3
Hooded Merganser – 2
Red-breasted Merganser – 90
Red-throated Loon – 1,196
Common Loon – 4
Red-necked Grebe – 1
Northern Gannet – 21
Double-crested Cormorant – 121
Great Cormorant – 1
Bonaparte's Gull – 4
Laughing Gull – 2
Ring-billed Gull – 312
Herring Gull – 207
Great Black-backed Gull – 101
Royal Tern – 1

Total: 17,119

Seawatch – 1 December 2014

Observation time:  0644 – 1639
Observer:  Tom Reed

Species counted:
Canada Goose – 10
Wood Duck – 2
American Black Duck – 8
Northern Pintail – 6
Green-winged Teal – 2
dabbling duck, sp. – 2
Ring-necked Duck – 1
Greater Scaup – 1
Lesser Scaup – 5
scaup, sp. – 4
Common Eider – 2
Surf Scoter – 1,293
White-winged Scoter – 38
Black Scoter – 2,462
Surf/Black Scoter – 765
scoter, sp. – 14
Long-tailed Duck – 17
Bufflehead – 1
Red-breasted Merganser – 18
Red-throated Loon – 2,119
Common Loon – 12
Horned Grebe – 10
Northern Gannet – 319
Double-crested Cormorant – 19
Great Cormorant – 1
Great Blue Heron – 2
Black-legged Kittiwake – 2
Laughing Gull – 35
Ring-billed Gull – 707
Herring Gull – 61
Great Black-backed Gull – 67
Forster's Tern – 2

Other:
Red Admiral – 5
Monarch – 3
Common Green Darner – 1
Harbor Seal – 1


Total: 8,007