22 September 2007

Highlights: PARASITIC JAEGER (1), WESTERN KINGBIRD (1)

WEATHER: It was a sunny day with moderate-strong winds out of the west. Visibility was decent and the temperatures ranged from 14-18 Celsius.

DUCKS & GEESE: It was a downright fun day to be waterbird counting. The winds out of the west pushed considerable numbers past and the diversity was not bad either. Near 80 CANADA GEESE were tallied and our first CACKLING GEESE (4) of the season were also seen. We had a considerable AMERICAN WIGEON flight with over 540 seen! Another species which had a good flight today was REDHEAD with nearly 100 seen. Other species seen included GADWALL, MALLARD (30+), AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, NORTHERN SHOVELER, NORTHERN PINTAIL, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Also seen were GREATER SCAUP, SURF SCOTER (2), and WHITE-WINGED SCOTER.

LOONS & GREBES: It wasn't an exceptional day for loons but the grebe numbers were decent. About 30 COMMON LOONS were tallied and 5+ RED-THROATED LOONS were seen as well. However, over 1600 RED-NECKED GREBES were counted in addition to a couple HORNED GREBES.

SHOREBIRDS: Over 5 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were seen in addition to 15+ SANDERLINGS and a couple WILSON'S SNIPE.

JAEGERS/GULLS: For the first time in nearly a week, a Sabine's Gull was NOT seen. However, a nice adult light-morph PARASITIC JAEGER came by the point in the second hour of the count. It came from the NE, harassed a gull well off shore, and then continued to the S.

Another highlight of the day was a WESTERN KINGBIRD. Although it was found inland at first, it spent much of the day hanging out at the point behind the shack, often perching on the "Sharpie Stick".

Some of the other birds seen from the waterbird shack included NORTHERN GOSHAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, HORNED LARK, AMERICAN PIPIT, and an EMPID species.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is calling for sunny skies and light winds out of the south.

Thanks for checking in.

Cory Gregory
arcticory@gmail.com
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