9/7/12

East winds and solid clouds made the day less then appealing.But things were afoot with the long awaited first Tiscornia record of Stilt Sandpiper!

3 GWTE
22 BWTE
5 PBGR
4 DCCO
3 GBHE
1 GREG (landed on the beach and was then attacked by the gulls until it eventually headed south. Oddly enough, the BOGU spent most time chasing it)
19 BBPL (one flock of 18!)
4 WHIM (good count)
3 RUTU
15 SAND
1 LESA
1 SESA
1 STSA (flew past with a tern flock!)
21 BOGU
1 CATE
7 FOTE
56 COTE
1 BLTE

9/6/12

A east wind, heavy fog and high humidity greeted me this morning, visibility was barely 200 meters to start the count. Eventually visibility was restored and the lack of waterbirds even more apparent. Oh yeah, had another LITTLE GULL.

1 GADW
1 AMWI
13 MALL
7 NOPI
15 NSHV
23 GWTE
144 BWTE
1 PBGR
2 DCCO
1 AMCO
2 SEPL
8 AMAV (on the beach at dawn in the fog, eventually flew north and lost them in the fog. By the 8th hour the fog had cleared enough to see them well north on the beach)
1 GRYE
3 RUTU
6 SAND
1 LESA
1 Jaeger Sp. (a light, blonde headed contrasty non adult PO/PAJA type. the mantle and under wing seemed to be more adult feathers which would suggest it to be a sub adult. When the tail flared I couldn't see any extensions, it did have a ton of white on the top and bottom of the wing.)
1 LIGU (a second year bird, hooked over the pier and went south) 
12 BOGU
1 hybrid Gull (the bastard of a dark mantled thing back in the area for its 6th fall. See HERE if you really want to learn about it. I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me if it would be possible for two pink legged parents could turn out a green legged offspring)
50 FOTE (mixed in with the COTE, huge count)
392 COTE (afternoon flight, with 208 in the last hour)

There was also a huge passerine flight in the night. There was a nonstop chorus of SWTH for the first four hours of the count, along with a minimum of 75 Palm, 3 Maggie, 1 B&W, 4 Wilson's, 2 CYT., 10 Tennessee Warblers, 2 Am. Redstart, 1 Warbling Vireo, 4 RBNU, 1 SEWR (on the pier), 1 COHA, and 1 BAEG feeding on the beach.

   

9/5/12

A weak front went through in the second hour, which heralded winds going from E-WSW and winds clocking upwards of a code 6! As the storm arrived I decided that standing next to a 26ft tall metal object ~300yrds out in the lake, or on top of a dune next a tree was a poor choice when you can see lighting striking the groud, so I vacated the count for 30 mins until the storm had passed. After the front things calmed down. There wasn't much movement other then BWTE though.

2 NOPI
20 NSHV
13 GWTE
1772 BWTE (872 in the third hour, new record day count.)
2 DCCO
1 SEPL
1 GRYE
1 SPSA
3 RUTU
5 SAND
1 BBSA 
2 LTJA (a striking dark juvie flew past just as the winds shifted. Shearwatering nearly the entire time I could see it, I thought for sure I had finally scored the first mega of the season. Unfortunately it soon gave several excellent views wherein the tail extension etc were seen, crushing my hopes for something oceanic. The second was a light juvie that was working its way south with the PAJA, this one gave excellent prolonged scope views and was a state bird for nearly everyone in attendance. This is a county high count, and a record season count)
1 PAJA (a intermediate morph juvie, all cinnamony with lotsa white on the upperside of the wing those central rects extending just a bit and neatly pointed. In otherwords your average juvie PAJA)  
10 BOGU
3 CATE
11 FOTE
76 COTE

 

9/4/12

Early rain moved out by the second hour, just in time for me to chum in a smashingly good looking juvie LIGU, the third of the season.

6 GADW
4 AMWI
10 NOPI
17 NSHO
17 GWTE
168 BWTE
4 DCCO
1 SEPL
3 RUTU
5 SAND
1 LESA
1 SESA
1 PAJA (intermediate immature, loafing offshore in the last 20 minutes of the count. The 6th jaeger of the fall, or three times what WPBO has had thus far this fall)  
1 LIGU (BOOM)
22 BOGU
2 CATE
8 FOTE
34 COTE
15 BLTE

Also, (likely due to the early morning rain) when the Monitowoc came in in the 7th hour there was a cool passerine flight from it including; 1 NOWA, 1 AMRE, 1 MAWA, 2 PAWA, and 15 un ID.

The question is though, do ship assisted birds count on the Great Lakes? 

 composite

  

9/3/12

....and I thought yesterday sucked for waterbirds.

ENE winds at a 3 for the first 5 hours, and clear skies brought out the Labor Day tourists in force. Ugh.

1 HOGR (nice to see after all the EAGR)
5 DCCO
1 GRHE
1 GBHE
4 RUTU
9 SAND
1 LESA
2 SESA
8 BOGU
2 CATE
21 FOTE
34 COTE

the only saving part of the day was a excellent hawk flight in the 4th and 5th hours (then the winds shifted NW) that included 81 BWHA (record count), 6 RTHA. 2 BAEG, 1 NOHA, 1 COHA, 1 RSHA (first Tiscornia record!), and a freaking early 1st fall GOEA.

 Other then that, the only entertainment was tourists asking stupid questions, and two Sanderlings that went all UFC.

9/2/12

Today sucked. ENE winds at a 4 and cloudy skies.

24 CAGO
9 MALL
1 GWTE
39 DCCO
2 BBPL
1 SEPL
3 KILL
31 SAND
2 LESA
1 SESA
12 BOGU
8 FOTE
21 COTE

There were some warblers in the parkinglot, but eh today sucked.

9/1/12

Cloudy, ENE winds and light rain in the last hour was about it. Not much moving, but another day with a good bird or three.

29 CAGO
11 NSHO
15 GWTE
20 BWTE
1 EAGR (4th of the season! Up until this fall Id never seen one here in the fall)
3 DCCO
1 WHIM (flyby in the third hour)
8 RUTU (good count)
6 SAND
1 SESA
1 PAJA (adult that worked its way north scope distance offshore)
26 BOGU
2 CATE (juvie with adult)
27 FOTE
50 COTE
22 BLTE