Saturday, August 28, 2010

A Jaeger a day...

Well the jaeger show continued at the shack today with 2 Parasitic Jaegers passing by on an otherwise very uneventful morning and afternoon count. The first, an adult or close to it, dark-morph passed by in the count's 3rd hour while the second was found in overpowering heat haze around noon and could only be placed as a sub-adult or adult Parasitic. Hopefully I can go for the hat trick tomorrow and pick up a Pomarine giving me all three in as many days.

Moderate south-southwest winds dominated all day while clear skies and a lot of sun were the tell-tale marks of continuing high pressure. This is suppose to last a few more days but they say rain is on the horizon. On a personal high note for the first time this year I can say that Red-necked Grebe was not the most common bird, that title was stripped away by the 33 Blue-winged Teal which topped the 29 mark set by their Podiceps cousins. Rounding out the top 3 was Mallard with a whopping 6 seen throughout the day.

Shorebirds were again represented by the same variety on the point while single Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpipers passed overhead during the morning. Bonaparte's Gulls also increased over recent days with a couple large groups late bringing the total to 74 birds.

Landbirds were less numerous than recent days but 2 Cooper's Hawks moving in off the lake, a small kettle of 17 Broad-winged Hawks mid-morning, and a fly-by Pileated Woodpecker early on added some spice to the bland concoction the lake was serving up.

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