10/24/13

Today was highlighted by the first lake effect snow/sleet/crap of the fall, with bands blowing through all day. Winds were W up to 15, temps hit 6.

11 GADW
14 MALL
2 NSHO
21 REDH
3 LESC
77 Scaup sp
7 SUSC
2 WWSC
6 BLSC
9 BUFF
6 RBME
2 RTLO
19 COLO
3 HOGR
1 EAGR (flew past and landed offshore with a HOGR)
1 DCCO
22 BOGU

The first SNBU of the fall arrived today, obviously they had to wait for the first lake effect snow to show up.

10/23/13

It rained/sleeted/ice'd the first five hours of the count. Winds started NNE at 5 and switched to the W up to 12 (which blew the rain away). Temps hit 6.

1 AMWI
20 MALL
2 GWTE
1 RNDU
137 Scaup
14 SUSC
16 WWSC
2 BLSC
2 LTDU
47 RBME
4 RTLO
12 COLO
2 HOGR
93 DCCO
2 SAND
1 Jaeger sp (waaaaaaay out there)
46 BOGU
3 COTE

2 RLHA, 1 COHA, 1 MERL, 1 PEFA, and 2 SEOW added up to a surprising amount of raptors for a raining day.

10/22/13

The weather matched yesterday. woo

2 WODU
62 GADW
6 AMWI
6 ABDU
83 MALL
8 NOPI
7 NSHO
6 GWTE
2 REDH
226 Scaup
13 SUSC
4 WWSC
16 BLSC
8 RBME
2 RTLO
24 COLO
1 PBGR
18 HOGR
86 DCCO
7 SAND
50 (flock of 47 in the 8th hour)
1 Jaeger sp (not terribly far out, but the distortion was terribly)
4 COTE

4 RLHA passed through over the course of the day, 2 light-2 dark morph.

10/21/13

Cloudy skies and SW winds hitting 13, temps peaked at 10.

Fun day, just kidding.

3 CANG
67 GADW
110 AMWI
20 MALL
11 NOPI
3 GWTE
5 BWTE
13 REDH
203 Scaup
5 SUSC
4 WWSC
3 BUFF
12 RBME
6 COLO
1 PBGR
1 RNGR
2 DCCO
1 BOGU
1 LBBG
1 GLGU
4 COTE

 The highlight of the day had to be the dark morph RLHA that buzzed the dune in the afternoon, I don't see many DM around the county muchless at Tiscornia.

10/20/13

Mostly clear skies, temps that hit 16, and winds that start at 10 but ended the day at 1 knot.

32 GADW
13 AMWI
35 MALL
20 NOPI
7 NSHO
2 GWTE
4 GRSC
650 Scaup
16 SUSC (1 ad. m)
1 WWSC
11 BLSC
35 RBME
4 RTLO
7 COLO
1 HOGR
3 RNGR (one was spent the last two hours of the count feeding offshore)
117 DCCO
28 BOGU
23 COTE

10/19/13

It rained for over half the day. Southerly winds the peaked 16 and temps hit 12.

51 GADW
45 AMWI
9 MALL
14 NOPI
47 NSHO
4 GWTE
8 BWTE
50 REDH
261 Scaup
18 SUSC
8 WWSC
8 BLSC
15 RBME
9 COLO
1 PBGR
1 HOGR
14 DCCO
55 DUNL (one flock!)
28 BOGU

10/18/13

Mostly cloudy skies, with SE winds going SW in the 10 knot range. Temps maxed out at 12.

Good diversity of ducks, but low numbers.

6 CANG
52 GADW
31 AMWI
10 MALL
11 NOPI
44 NSHO
63 GWTE
70 BWTE
6 REDH
195 Scaup sp
4 SUSC
3 BLSC
6 RBME
3 RTLO
4 COLO
41 DCCO
6 KILL
2 SAND
9 DUNL
11 BOGU
3 COTE

1 PEFA and 1 SEOW were the only
other birds of interest for the day.

This is a typical Octobor flock of ducks at Tiscornia, how many species of are in this photo?

10/17/13

SW winds to 19 and it rained all day.

53 GADW
3 AMWI
1 MALL
1 NOPI
2 NSHO
2 GWTE
63 BWTE
5 CANV
8 REDH
1 RNDU
252 Scaup
13 SUSC
4 WWSC
1 BLSC
39 RBME
3 RUDU
3 COLO
2 PESA
107 BOGU
6 FOTE
47 COTE

Watched a SEOW drop in the grass to roost mid morning, I left it alone to rest.

10/16/13

Cloudy skies, SW winds up to 13, and no Sand-Plovers.

2 AMWI
3 MALL
13 NOPI
3 NSHO
23 GWTE
7 BWTE
1 REDH
2 LESC
61 Scaup
4 SUSC
3 BLSC
4 COLO
3 HOGR
1 DCCO
15 BOGU
310 RBGU (small flocks flying south most of the day)
2 FOTE
5 COTE

10/15/13

Cloudy skies and east winds up to 13 knots led to a slow day.

All that really matters about today is that this was found two piers to the south of Tiscornia:

 Anyways on to the flight...

13 CANG

1 WODU

4 GADW

18 AMWI

9 MALL

28 NOPI

1 NSHO

23 GWTE

15 REDH

6 RNDU

2 GRSC

275 Scaup

6 SUSC

3 WWSC

1 BLSC

1 BUFF

20 RBME

4 COLO

5 HOGR

2 DCCO

4 SAND

1 DUNL

46 BOGU

1 FOTE

13 COTE

One SEOW and 3 TRES were the only real birds of note for the day.

The Lee A. Tregurtha, a lifer freighter!  

10/14/13

 Back to east winds, temps in the teens and continuing clear skies.

68 CANG
5 WODU
6 GADW
17 AMWI
5 MALL
3 NOPI
3 GWTE
6 REDH
2 RNDU
1,306 Scaup
11 SUSC
4 WWSC
2 RBME
1 RTLO
3 COLO
16 HOGR
10 DCCO
1 BBPL
1 Jaeger sp. (distant PAJA type)
48 BOGU

10/13/13

A shock came today with WNW winds! The skies were clear though and temps were in the teens so it wasn't that big of a change from the last few days.

Oh wait, there was birds!

5 CANG
1 WODU
157 GADW
269 AMWI
72 MALL
64 NOPI
81 NSHO
135 GWTE
488 BWTE
132 REDH
4 RNDU
1,686 Scaup
23 SUSC
10 WWSC
7 RBME
1COLO
2 HOGR
1 RNGR
55 DCCO
2 AMAV (a bit of a surprise, 2nd latest county record)
9 BOGU
1 FOTE
6 COTE

 

                                 spider id anyone?

10/12/13

Like yesterday, but temps hit the mid twenties!

13 CANG
15 GWTE
6 Scaup
4 COLO
4 HOGR
3 SAND
4 BOGU
11 COTE

Odd were two SEOW flying around offshore in the last 20 minutes of the count

And no pics, the day sucked.

10/11/13

The weather was...just like yesterday!!!










36 CANG
1 AMWI
1 MALL
7 BWTE
2 REDH
12 LESC
2 Scaup
13 SUSC
1 RBME
1 COLO
1 HOGR
6 DCCO
2 KILL
3 SAND
4 BOGU
13 COTE

Yup.

10/10/13

More of the same for the weather, thus more of the same waterbird wise.

25 CANG
4  CACG
3 MALL
2 NSHO
3 GWTE
7 REDH
5 LESC
90 Scaup
14 SUSC (1 male!)
1 BLSC
44 DCCO
2 SAND
5 BOGU
1 LBBG (atypical for this species at Tiscornia, it came right into the bread!)
1 COTE

10/9/13

  Clear skies and light SE winds were the order of the day, temps hit 19 by the end of the count.

Yeah, nothing to talk about with the waterbirds.

14 CANG
15 BWTE
14 Scaup
3 SUSC
2 HOGR
18 DCCO
2 AMCO
4 SAND
1 DUNL
13 BOGU

Passerines weren't as numerous as yesterday, however while working the dune grass I kicked up a Nelson's (formerly Sharp-tailed) Sparrow. This is only the second fall record for Tiscornia and the first since 2011. Do to more thorough searching I've NESP three years running at Tiscornia (two this year), and every year in the county since 2008. Which makes since if you think of NESP as a uncommon migrant as opposed to a truly vagrant species. Also, despite what some have told me NESP and LCSP are field identifiable in flight (as are HESP and GRSP, but then again I am waterbird counter so what do I know). Perhaps in the future I'll have time to do delve into a full discussion on this topic. 

10/8/13

Clear skies, warm temps, and south winds led to a light waterbird flight.

33 CANG
11 GWTE
39 BWTE
7 LESC
25 Scaup
11 SUSC
2 RBME
1 RUDU
2 HOGR
2 RNGR
12 DCCO
2 KILL
6 SAND
3 COTE

While the waterbird flight was slow, there was a large passerine flight overnight. A constant stream of Juncos and WTSP, WCSP, SWSP,  GCKI etc. spent the morning moving along the pier towards shore, up to 12 WIWR were present this morning and at times up to four were working around the lighthouse at the same time!

Also today featured two Silver-haired Bats and the first Hoary Bat of the fall.

10/7/13

Mostly cloudy skies, and SW winds up to 16 knots. The temperature matched the wind speeds.

1 CANG
4 GADW
9 AMWI
5 MALL
4 NOPI
1 NSHO
3 GWTE
119 BWTE
28 REDH
14 GRSC
208 Scaup sp
7 SUSC
1 RBME
3 COLO
260 DCCO
16 SAND
1 DUNL
585 BOGU (excellent flight in the last two hours of the count)
780 RBGU (loose groups moving south all afternoon)
570 HEGU (ditto)
5 FOTE
159 COTE

Do to the west in the winds there was an excellent PEFA flight, totaling 22 individuals!

10/6/13

Cloudy skies and a drizzle to moderate rain for almost the whole day. Thank goodness the count is close to civilization, coffee delivered to the count saved the day 

5 CANG
1 AMWI
3 NOPI
5 BWTE
1 REDH
35 scaup sp
1 DCCO
1 AMGP
1 BBPL
20 SAND
1 DUNL

10/5/13

A cloudy, hot (hit 26), terrible visibility, muggy/moist day that with even featured a half hour of rain in the 5th hour!

The rain was a positive though as all the birds for the day came after the rain passed.

1 AMWI
12 NOPI
101 GWTE (62 in the 6th hour!)
27 BWTE
1 PBGR
1 COLO
1 DCCO
1 AGPL
11 SAND
13 COTE
1 ARTE (Juvie that was with the COTE, the flock moved onshore during the rain, and stuck around for 20 minutes before the flock worked N and out of sight. The lighting sucked and while it gave nice scope views it never came in for a good pic. Impressively the second for the season) 

         ARTE composite

10/4/13

Cloudy skies, southerly winds, and temps that hit 24 led to a muggy day.

7 CANG
27 NOPI (all in the last hour)
3 GWTE
8 BWTE
1 SUSC
1 HOGR
2 DCCO
3 AMCO
3 KILL
14 SAND
1 DUNL
2 FOTE
20 COTE

Other birds of interest today included two PEFA, the MERL, and the second SEOW of the fall.

10/3/13

Cloudy skies, warm temps (20's!), and SE winds that peaked around 14 knots led to a day dramatically slower then yesterday. But that was okay, I need a day to recover.

2 MUSW
7 WODU
5 MALL
164 BWTE
1 Scaup sp
1 COLO
1 PBGR
1 HOGR
1 DCCO
1 AMGP
2 LEYE
14 SAND
1 BASA
6 FOTE
7 COTE

In other news two Clay-colored Sparrows were around the parking-lot today, uncommon in the fall out here. Even more so this fall with the low diversity of passerines thus far.

10/2/13

Sometimes there are days that mentally are hard to deal with.

This was one of those days.

Clear skies, light east winds going NE and fantastic visibility. 

12 CANG
10 WODU
16 GADW
78 AMWI
54 MALL
35 NOPI
44 NSHO
30 GWTE
4,252 BWTE (Up until this point this season only ~3,200 BWTE had migrated south, a year earlier we were closing in on 8,000. Needless to say my hope for this season was pretty much gone, and all I could think of was how much 2013 was sucking. Then today hit! It utterly destroys the previous Tiscornia and county highcount of 1,772 set last fall, in the first hour alone 1,392 flew south! Without a doubt one of the highlights of the season)
15 REDH
1 GRSC
4 LESC
1 TUDU (Mixed in with a flock of BWTE 600-800m out in the first hour. After having seen 60,000+ Scaup/REHE/RNDU out here over the years I feel like I have a reasonably thorough grasp on what the expected Athya look like in flight, so when I picked up on a Scaupish duck with a nearly black chest, head and back (all essentially the same color), gleaming white flanks and belly, in combination with a GRSC amount of white in the wing the warning bells started ringing and upon closer study (60x baby) I picked up on the differences in head shape from the expected Athya's along with what looked like a tuft extending ~2/3 way along and being held against the neck. At times you could pick up on the tuft changing shape/position in relation to the head moving)
7 HOGR
2 DCCO
1 AMCO
1 AGPL
1 KILL
26 AMAV (talk about a surprise, this flock showed up south of the pier in the 7th hour and alternated between getting flushed off the beach by walkers and sitting in the water. This sets a new county highcount!)
1 GRYE (spent a hour on the beach)
29 SAND
1 BASA

BWTE!

 

Crappy TUDU composite with BWTE

 You would think that shorebirds swimming out in the lake in October would be phalaropes, not at Tiscornia...

10/1/13

Its October! Yay!!!

Not a bad start to the month with mostly cloudy skies, south winds in the 8-15 knot range and warm temps and some birds.

3 MALL
7 NOPI
317 BWTE (one of the better flights of whats turning into a terrible fall for BWTE)
1 DCCO
3 AMGP
22 SAND
1 WESA! (same bird as 9/29, spent the day with the SAND flock)
3 BOGU
15 COTE

9/30/13

 

Not a bad day, clear skies and light south winds.

22 CANG
1 WODU
1 ABDU
3 MALL
79 BWTE
1 GRSC
2 HOGR
37 DCCO
24 SAND
1 BOGU
6 FOTE
50 COTE
1 ARTE (Ahh, the dreaded other Sterna tern. This one spent about 20 minutes feeding offshore in poor lighting with a Forster's Tern  during the 7th hour before making one close pass by the pier, before being joined by a handful of Common Terns and the group headed north. I posted this as a juvenile, but in hindsight and poking through some books I think it was actually a basic adult or subadult)

 Crappy ARTE pic, the 2011 ARTE was a little more photogenic

9/29/13

WOW! North winds! Mostly Clear skies! AND BIRDS!!!

1 WODU
7 AMWI
11 MALL
5 NOPI
10 NSHO
4 GWTE
343 BWTE
4 GRSC
2 RUDU
1 COLO
1 PBGR
163 DCCO
1 AGPL
1 SPSA
17 SAND
1 BASA
1 WESA (a nice looking juvie that spent the day feeding along the shoreline with the SAND/BASA, only the second county record since '96)
1 PAJA (int. morph possibly second year)
2 LBBG (one adult and one 2nd year)
1 FOTE
14 COTE

9/28/13

GUESS WHAT MORE EAST WINDS.

7 CANG
1 MALL
2 SUSC
3 HOGR
1 DCCO
14 SAND
2 BOGU
2 CATE
15 COTE

They're forcasting a cold front coming through tonight, maybe there will be something around tomorrow...

9/27/13

Guess what?! More east winds and a crap flight. Woo.

Not

13 CANG
2 MALL
2 NOPI
3 GWTE
33 BWTE
3 COLO
1 HOGR
18 DCCO
1 SEPL
11 SAND
57 COTE

 

9/26/13

Ahhhhh, east winds, clear skies and warm temps (it hit 23!).

ugh.

16 CANG
4 NOPI
42 BWTE
1 RBME
1 RTLO
2 DCCO
9 SACR (hard to get at Tiscornia)
1 SEPL
3 AMAV (flew in during the third hour, landed a mile up the beach then were flushed by a idiot dogwalker and never came back)
11 SAND
2 CATE
2 FOTE
48 COTE

9/25/13

Guess what, today had east winds.

suckage.

11 CANG
1 NOPI
2 GWTE
2 BLSC
31 DCCO
3 AGPL
7 SAND
1 Phalarope sp. (not terribly far out, but the distortion was terrible)
1 BOGU
5 COTE