August 19, 2009: Piping Plover

It was another gorgeous day at the point-- probably the most pleasant day yet. Winds were light and variable and temps were in the low 70's.

Waterbirds: Very slow because of the weather. The highlight was my first White-winged Scoter of the fall. I counted 82 Red-necked Grebes (almost all just after sunrise) and about a dozen Common Loons. A handful of Blue-winged Teal and Common Mergansers rounded out the group.

Gulls/Terns: A good day for Common Terns with 33 flying by. One Caspian hung out at the point during the afternoon.


Shorebirds: The lowest numbers yet but included an always welcome Piping Plover. Piping Plovers nested at the point this year for the first time in 23 years but the bands on this bird did not match either of the adults from that pair. Also, that family has not been seen here in more than a week. It is likely that this is a migrant from somewhere else-- I'll provide an update when we learn about the history of this bird.

Other: The raptors provided a lot of entertainment today. A Peregrine Falcon made a brief appearance at the tip during the second hour and one of the local Merlins had a very successful time picking off tired passerines that tried to migrate in off the lake. I watched it catch and eat 3 different birds-- two of which were Song Sparrows. The local Goshawk was also around and another juvenile Goshawk came in off the lake.

Tom Prestby

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