Seawatch - October 17-18, 2018

Continuing NW winds and colder temperatures made for poor viewing conditions, with distant birds and lots of shimmer/haze off the water.  Wednesday the 17th was low on overall numbers but had good diversity, including Long-tailed Duck, Ruddy Duck, both scaup species, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Northern Pintail, Mallard, American Black Duck, and the first Bufflehead of the season (a male).

Thursday was also was slow for most of the day with poor visibility.  However, the last two hours of the day saw the floodgates release as thousands of scoters came by in huge flocks, with nearly 9000 scoters tallied in those two hours.   Also out the floodgates were 1500 cormorants, making keeping track of everything difficult as most flew over the north flight line above Sea Isle.

Check out the totals! 

Despite more NW and West winds in the forecast for the next week, Seawatch is approaching it's peak season, so there are sure to be many birds every day from now on!

Also, the Fall Festival is this weekend, so hopefully all participants have a wonderful time and stop by the Seawatch!

Good birding,
David Weber

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