Pretty average day for waterbirds, but I did have a new species for the season — a male Black Scoter. He was flying and foraging with Red-breasted Mergansers. The best bird of the day was not at the waterbird count but at the hawk watch, when the dark morph Swainson’s Hawk from April 17 made another appearance and I was able to see it this time! I also had a nice variety of hawks migrating over me. The down side is that they were quite high up today.
Canada Goose – 113
Wood Duck – 1
Greater Scaup – 2
Lesser Scaup – 3
Greater/Lesser Scaup – 2
White-winged Scoter – 11
Black Scoter – 1
Long-tailed Duck – 424
Common Merganser – 24
Red-breasted Merganser – 98
Unidentified duck sp. – 4
Common Loon – 11
Double-Crested Cormorant – 46
Others:
Turkey Vulture – 75
Osprey – 3
Northern Harrier – 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 8
Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Bald Eagle – 5
Red-shouldered Hawk – 1
Broad-winged Hawk – 51
Red-tailed Hawk – 34
Merlin – 1
Sandhill Crane – 15
