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

8/31/12

Today started out with the strongest winds of the count (code 4), but they were SW. It was a surprisingly good day, likely due to the alleged approaching cold front (that never arrived)

4 MALL
35 NOPI
27 NSHV
22 GWTE
1468 BWTE (a impressive first three hours (743 in the second hour), only 65 in the last five hours of the count. This is a new day highcount for Tiscornia (it beats out the 1004 on 9/21/11)
7 DCCO
1 GBHE
1 AGPL (adult in moult)
2 SEPL
3 RUTU
10 SAND
2 LESA
1 SESA
1 RNPH (a juvie offshore, a excellent spot by Warren Whaley who also brought muffins)
38 BOGU (mixed in with presumably the same offshore gull flock from the last three days)
1 LIGU (a cracking adult that spent the day offshore with the gull flock)
46 FOTE (new highcount)
457 COTE (352 in the last hour of the count)

17 BLTE

8/30/12

Code 4 SE winds started the day off and slowly died and shifted due south throughout the day. Needless to say despite the blue skies and warm temps this was a uninspiring day of counting, until the last half hour when I heard a Whimbrel flying by, I whistled in response and soon had it circle and briefly land on the pier before walkers flushed it and it headed south.

36 MALL
2 NSHV
1 BUFF (female type, really early)
3 DCCO
1 BBPL (moulting ad.)
5 RUTU
17 SAND
2 LESA
27 BOGU
730 RBGU (working offshore)
250 HEGU
11 FOTE
8 COTE

Also has a Common Nighthawk come in off the lake (third fall record), at 1/2 mile out it sure looked like a jaeger...

8/29/12

Code three east winds started the day off, but by the end of the count they had died and switched W.  Good verity, but low numbers.

9 CAGO

4 MALL

1 GWTE

7 BWTE

21 DCCO

1 GRHE

1 GBHE

1 AGPL (really early for here)

2 SEPL

2 RUTU

16 SAND

3 LESA

1 BBSA

1 PAJA (int. morph juvie, spent the last five hours of the count working the offshore gull flock)

12 BOGU

580 RBGU (large mixed flock feeding scope distance offshore all day)

230 HEGU (ditto)

17 FOTE

8 COTE

26 BLTE (one flock)

--

Nonwaterbirds

2 PEFA (one buzzed the shorebirds on the pier ten feet from where I was standing!)

1 WHIP (by far the best bird of the day, and maybe the season, it buzzed the end of the pier and spent the next 10 minutes flying along the pier, freaking the shorebirds out and briefly landing before heading inland. I was initially stumped by what the hell it was (this is the second whip Ive ever seen), as its flight style and gizz was like a SSHA, but so clearly not a SSHA)

MOWA, WIWA, MAWA, NAWA, PAWA, YEWA, RBNU- a nice flock working around the parkinglot in the mid morning. 

Also had a Silver-haired Bat spend several hours sleeping behind my chair at the base of the lighthouse.

look at the eye shine, you don't see much off that in normal waterbirds!

 

 gliding, get the accipiter gizz?

 In some places this would be called a CONW....

8/28/12

Not quite the level of movement as the day before, but there was some quality birds and the best duck verity so far this fall (woo!).


Highlights

3 CAGO
4 GADW
1 ABDU
20 MALL
16 NSHV
9 GWTE
9 BWTE
1 PBGR
110 DCCO (biggest flight of the season, 102 were one flock though)
1 GBHE
1 SORA (this one was trying to pull a murrelet and was floating off the end of the pier. It eventually drifted further offshore and was eating by a HEGU. What the hell though, after never seeing a Sora in the water here, two in 2 days is just wack)
1 KILL
3 AMAV (one was flushed by a photographer before I could get a pic, it flew south and spent the rest of the count south of the south pier where it was joined by two more) 
2 RUTU
18 SAND (starting to build)
3 LESA
1 SESA
2 BASA
3 phalarope sp (distant)
1 LTJA (baller light morph juvie worked its way north through the offshore gulls early in the morning. Good looking bird through the scope)
20 BOGU
12 FOTE (numbers starting to drop)
66 COTE
144 BLTE (bam, another good day. The total was made between two groups-17 and 126!)

Also, in the 7th hour a freighter came in and a Song Sparrow and A Blackpoll Warbler flew off it.