Avalon Seawatch - Saturday, September 22nd, 2018

The Avalon Seawatch is back in action!  I'm very happy to be returning again this year for another season of seabird counting!  Make sure to come visit anytime between now and December 22nd between 8th and 9th Street in Avalon, NJ!

The first day of the season kicked off with a decent flight of Double-crested Cormorants (600+), which dominated today's flight.  There was also a notable movement of Common Terns, with several flocks heading south offshore and totaling around 130 for the day.  Common Terns seem to peak in the first week of the Seawatch, so if you want to see some, make sure to come out soon!

Also of note today was an early movement of Northern Pintail with a few flocks heading south, and a small but welcome number of Black Scoters.  18 Great Blue Herons flew south, which is hopefully a good sign for more herons to come.  A few adult gannets and jaegers were spotted relatively close to shore, and a small number of monarchs were on the move as well.  Quite a few Brown Pelicans were seen, but nearly all were headed north!  Hopefully they will return south to be counted soon enough.

Check out the totals over at Trektellen.org!

As far as first days of the Seawatch go, this was quite a good one!  While there seems to be a good amount of rain in the forecast ahead, there is also some east winds in store, which is always best for the Seawatch!

Hope to see you out there!

-David Weber

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