My hopes for the day were not very high this morning when I walked out to the shack and was greeted by strong SE winds. I couldn't have been more wrong as waterbirds were moving almost all day, even when light rain began to fall in the afternoon.
Waterfowl: It was an excellent day overall, especially for Long-tailed Ducks. 7562 were tallied with many groups over 100 birds and the majority not very far offshore. Common Goldeneye also had their best day so far this fall with 79 seen. The highlight of the day however was a hen EIDER that flew by with 5 White-winged Scoters during the fifth hour. It was too far to tell if it was a King or Common but was nevertheless obviously an eider. Other highlights were an impressive late-fall flight of Green-winged Teal (103) and a bizarre looking duck that flew down the shore that we felt was probably a partially leucistic Surf Scoter. Wigeon, Mallard, Scaup, White-winged and Surf Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated and Common Loon, and Red-necked and Horned Grebe were all seen in decent numbers as well.
Gulls: Just after the excitement of the eider, a young Iceland Gull gave a very close flyby before continuing on over the lake.
Shorebirds: Another good day with 48 Dunlin, a Greater Yellowlegs, and a Sanderling.
Other: Not much at all besides continued good numbers of Snow Buntings.
Tom Prestby
Waterbird Counter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment