Monday, August 23, 2010

Whimbrel saves the day

For the fourth straight day there was little waterbird movement past the point as non-existent to light east/southeast winds predominated the morning and afternoon once again. As always Red-necked Grebe was the most common bird at 75+ for the morning while Bonaparte's Gull (12), Horned Grebe (7), and Common Loon (6) rounded out the top 4 species counts for the day. Only a handful of ducks were seen with 4 White-winged Scoters topping the list.

The bright spot for the morning was a Whimbrel which flew up the beach from the south and continued west from the point towards the lighthouse and out of sight. Other shorebirds present were much the same as yesterday with Baird's Sandpiper and Sanderling showing in the greatest numbers.


Passerine numbers seemed to be building in the jack pines on the point today with small flocks of American Robins, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Chipping Sparrows about this morning which included smaller numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Cape May, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Palm, and Nashville Warblers, a Northern Waterthrush, and a Black-backed Woodpecker which ventured out to the jack pine edge before thinking better of it and heading back to the trees.

No comments: