September 7, 2009- 3 Jaegers

The string of gorgeous days just keeps on going. Winds were light out of the SE all day until they shifted to North during the final hour of the count. It was a very interesting day with a lot of activity in the morning, little during midday, and a lot of activity at the end of the count.

Waterfowl: A very good day overall. The highlight was the arrival of Red-throated Loons with 6 seen. 27 Common Loons were also counted. Grebes had a very good day with 591 Red-neckeds and 57 Horneds. The number of Horneds was very surprising, more than doubling last year's high count for the species. Other ducks included 74 Blue-winged and 61 Green-winged Teal, 29 Wigeon, and a few Shovelers, Mallards, and White-winged Scoters.

Gulls/Terns/Jaegers: The highlight of the day was jaegers. During the second hour a dark juvenile jaeger came flying up the beach in fairly close range but bad lighting. I saw white flashes on the upper and underwing and an otherwise uniform dark brown clunky body. My impression was that this was a dark juvenile Parasitic. Another jaeger showed up at the beginning of the 8th hour but was way too far out to ID. Finally, with about a half hour left in the count, a gorgeous adult light morph Parasitic Jaeger flew up the beach and harassed a few gulls before moving on towards the Soo. The Franklin's Gull is still around and 14 Common Terns were counted.

Shorebirds: A very good day after a few poor days. Sanderlings had their best day of the year with about 60 present with a couple Baird's Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers. A few juvenile Golden and Black-bellied Plovers stopped in throughout the day as well. Pictures of a Black-bellied Plover and American Golden Plover are below.

Other: The highlight was a female Black-backed Woodpecker that landed on one of the sharpie sticks during the afternoon. American Pipits were around the shack all day (see photo below) and the Merlin had a fun day hunting the numerous passerines coming in off the lake.

This Evening: I went back out to the point since the end of the count was so active. Waterfowl was very slow but a Buff-breasted Sandpiper flew in. Here are some photos of that bird:

Tom Prestby

Waterbird Counter