Seawatch - November 12-18, 2018

Sorry for the delay in getting out the blogs!  Here are the numbers for last week:

November 12: 31,943
November 13:   9,440
November 14:   6,750
November 15: 13,145
November 16:   6,518
November 17:   7,612
November 18: 16,016

Tom Reed had an excellent day on Monday the 12th, with over 1000 Green-winged Teal, over 10,000 scoters, over 4000 Red-throated Loons, and a good gull movement consisting of over 600 Laughing Gulls and over 1000 Ring-billed Gulls.  There was also an excellent diversity of ducks, with 21 species!  Tuesday the 13th was quite a bit slower for Tom, but was headlined by a Red-necked Grebe, a Razorbill, and even a Gray Seal!  The 2116 southbound Black Scoters made up the majority of Tuesday's flight.

Wednesday the 14th was even slower than the previous day, but was highlighted by a flock of 31 Tundra Swans, another Red-necked Grebe, a few late Black Skimmers and a late Osprey, and a close Common Goldeneye. The day was dominated, as most days this week were, by Red-throated Loons, with 1762 throughout the day. 

Thursday the 15th had strong easterly winds, which produced 3560 Surf Scoter and 4683 Black Scoter.  Not to be forgotten, 2073 Red-throated Loons were in the mix as well.  Also of note was a nice movement of over 300 scaup, 771 Green-winged Teal, and a Razorbill.

Friday the 16th was quite different, with only a few hundred loons and scoters each, but with a late push of 1770 Double-crested Cormorants and 1224 Laughing Gulls!  A late Brown Pelican was seen heading north toward Sea Isle and 10 Common Eider were seen going south.

Saturday the 17th was dominated by Red-throated Loons, with 3436 tallied.  Nearly 1000 Black Scoter and over 400 Surf Scoter were counted along with a smattering of gulls and ducks in small numbers.  A diverse but low number day overall.

Sunday the 18th had straight north winds and was quite cold in the morning (37 degrees), causing a good movement of scoters and loons.  5174 Black Scoter, 3175 Surf Scoter, and 38 White-winged Scoters kept the day very busy, while a solid 3648 Red-throated Loons made the day hectic at time!  It's often hard to keep track of everything when a wave of loons totaling upwards of 500 birds comes through all in a few minutes!  (Not to mention how tired my clicker hand gets!)  A big shoutout to Chris Payne, previous Montclair Hawkwatcher and fresh off a season at the Florida Keys Hawkwatch, for helping count scoters while I was busy with loons.

That's all for last week!  I encourage you to take a look at the individual numbers for each day, and stay tuned for this week's summary!

Good birding,
David Weber



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