Saturday, September 8, 2007

8 September 2007

Highlights: PARASITIC JAEGER (1), WHIMBREL (3)

WEATHER: Winds were light to moderate out of the SE all day and temperatures ranged from 12 to 21 Celsius. Skies were mostly clear to begin with but it clouded over in the afternoon. Visibility was rather limited throughout the count due to heat distortion.

DUCKS & GEESE: There was decent diversity today with 6 species of dabblers including GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, MALLARD, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Small flocks of CANADA GEESE passed by as well and totaled near 90 birds. A couple GREATER SCAUP and a dark-winged SCOTER were also seen.

LOONS & GREBES: Numbers were moderate today with a noticeable push in HORNED GREBES (20+) while over 800 RED-NECKED GREBES were seen. At least 7 RED-THROATED LOONS passed by in addition to nearly 40 COMMON LOONS.

SHOREBIRDS: It started out as a good plover day with BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, SEMIPALMTED PLOVER, and an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER seen in the first couple hours. Other shorebirds seen today included RUDDY TURNSTONE, SANDERLING, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, and BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. During the last 3 hours of the count, 3 WHIMBREL flew by (a pair, and then a single).

JAEGERS: Our 10th jaeger of the season was spotted by Chris during the 7th hour of the count. This intermediate morph juvenile PARASITIC JAEGER cruised on by along the beach at close range.

Some other birds tallied from the shack included BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, AMERICAN PIPIT, and a juvenile NORTHERN GOSHAWK.

It looks as if the winds will remain out of the SE until tomorrow afternoon.

More tomorrow!
Cory Gregory
arcticory@gmail.com
Waterbird Counter

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