Slow But a Few Nice Birds

The weather was once again pleasant today, but there still wasn't much for waterfowl migration.

Weather: Mostly sunny, wind from the N/NW 5-10 mph. Temperatures into the low 50s, conditions were very comfortable the last 4 hours of the count.

Waterbird Count: 73 common loons, 2 red-throated loons, 1 loon sp. 20 RB mergansers, 5 RN grebes, 4 surf scoters, 4 bufflehead, 3 DC cormorants, 3 LT ducks, 1 common goldeneye. A merganser flew across the tip in front of the shack the first hour. I assumed it was red-breasted but once in scope it was clearly a hooded merganser. The 1 loon sp. is being investigated.

Shorebirds: Now 4 piping plovers on the beach. 1 semipalmated plover.

Gulls: 4 Bonaparte's gulls.

Other Sightings: The flock of blue jays continues to grow, probably around 200 over the pines today. There was a merlin patrolling the beach today, we were worried it would snatch up one of the piping plovers. It settled for a nashville warbler however.

Forecast for tomorrow is partly cloudy, temperatures into the high 50s and south winds 10-20 mph. I'll say nothing about what that means for waterfowl migration seeing as I've been wrong nearly everytime. These last few days have been a grind though a good flight would be a nice surprise.

Andy N
Waterbird Counter