8/24 and 8/25

Jason spelled me yesterday morning and afternoon so I could catch up on some much needed sleep and check out the woods at my leisure. Not much to report waterbird wise but he did see 3Whimbrel in the early afternoon and dabbler numbers were higher than previous days. The woods had a nice selection of warblers with the season's first Ovenbird and Bay-breastedsamong them.

Today started out promising with light-moderate southwest winds and rain on the horizon. While bird numbers were up markedly from previous days the onslaught of waterbirds that we hoped for never quite materialized. Presumably that just means we will have an even better day once they decide to make a break for the coast.

I feel by this point everyone is aware what the most common bird for the day is going to be but I'll say it anyway, Red-necked Grebe with just shy of 500 birds seen today. A distant second to grebes were Blue-winged Teal with 71 (99 Teal Sp. were also recorded) and then a tie for third at 23 between Common Loon and American Wigeon. Other ducks seen today included single American Black Duck, Mallard, Northern Pintail, White-winged Scoter, and Common Goldeneye and a pair of Greater Scaup.

Shorebird diversity remained low with a single Solitary Sandpiper being the most uncommon while the highest counts belonged to Sanderling (19) and Baird's Sandpiper (16). The day's best sighting came in the late morning when an adult dark-phase Parasitic Jaeger passed by out on the lake. Unfortunately it never came in to the gull roost on the point, though I'm sure the gulls preferred it this way. Also noted today was a single Caspian Tern.

The best action involved the non-waterbirds as large numbers of migrants arrived last night and throughout the morning on the occasional fronts that passed through. Migrants noted from the shack included a Sora, Broad-winged Hawk, and Clay-colored Sparrow while several walks through the woods produced at least 15 species of warblers (including the season's firstBlackpolls), a House Wren, the season's first Swainson's Thrushes, and a pair of fly-over Red Crossbills.