As predicted the weather changed abruptly last night with several cold fronts rolling through into the morning bringing with them a complete shift in bird activity. Instead of warm and sunny with poor action, the temperature dropped, the wind turned to the west, the rain started, and low and behold the birds started to move past the point once more. The forecast is for winds from the SE tomorrow so we will see how it holds up, but so far September is looking good.
While all species were up for the day the real highlight was the movement of Common Terns between 8 and 10 this morning with nearly 1500 passing by in those two hours alone giving a daily total of 1696 birds that made them far and away the most common for the day. With the strong cold front that rolled in just before 11 came an increased movement of waterbirds which brought the total of Red-necked Grebes up to 603 for the day and Blue-winged Teal up to 542 ranking them second and third respectively. Duck numbers continue to improve with nine total species including 20 American Wigeons, 1 Lesser Scaup, and 79 White-winged Scoters, while loon numbers were the best of the season with 32 Commons and 3 Red-throateds.
Besdies the glut of Common Terns other Larids passing during the series of fronts were 6 Black and 1 Forster's Tern along with 5 Bonaparte's Gulls. Shorebird numbers were also on the rise with 2 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper added to the regular mix of Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, and peeps.
While waterbird numbers were much increased the real movement today was on the passerine front so to see a summary of what was found in the point's woods check out the sightings blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment