The day started with dense fog which slowly dissipated throughout the morning. Winds were weak out of the SE and the temp topped out in the low 70's.
Waterfowl: A pretty slow day overall but the best day of the fall so far for Red-throated Loons. 43 were counted including 27 during the 6th hour of the count. Modest numbers of Common Loons, Horned and Red-necked Grebes and Canada Geese were seen with a few dabblers including 28 Wigeon, a Black Duck, and a few teal of both species.
Gulls/Terns/Jaegers: By far the highlight of the day was a intermediate juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER. The bird actually showed up just after the count had ended (around 3:30PM Eastern time)-- good thing we stuck around for a little bit. We were alerted to its presence when we heard a gull give an alarm call and once we spotted the bird we watched it give a nice close flyby a little more than halfway between the waterbird shack and the tip of the point. Chris took some excellent photos which reveal the identity of this bird. They can be seen on the sightings blog.
Shorebirds: Highlight was a Pectoral Sandpiper that flew in towards the end of the count. An American Golden Plover also flew over earlier.
Other: A dark morph Red-tailed Hawk put on a brief show with a half-dozen other Red-tails. Very neat looking bird!!
Tom Prestby
Waterbird Counter
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Did you find yourself sticking around the waterbird shack telling some jokes at day's end only to be interrupted by the Long Tail? Perhaps you were trying to recollect some of good ones Ken likes to tell. Thank goodness for that:)
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