The day started out rather slow, but as the Sun came out in the third hour so did the birds. Toward the end of the third hour the clouds moved back in and the birds stopped moving again. The waterbirds were highlighted today by my first good sized flock of dabblers with 10 Gadwall flying by to the east, my highest number of Red-necked Grebes yet with 19, and my first two flocks of White-winged Scoters. Common Loon numbers were down quite a bit, and I still haven’t seen a Red-throated go by, but I keep waiting anxiously.
Songbird numbers were also low with a couple of Black-throated Green Warblers, a Blackburnian Warbler, an unidentified Warbler, two Cedar Waxwings, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a small flock of Black-capped Chickadees making up the entirety of what I saw today. I didn’t seen any of these birds flying in off the lake, so they may have already been hanging out in the trees.
A single Sanderling flew by close during the third hour as well and represented the only Shorebird for the day. A single Great Egret was the only Heron to be seen.
The Raptor flight got pretty exciting when the sun came out. Five Northern Harriers, an American Kestrel, and six Sharp-shinned Hawks flew in off the lake.
In addition to birds, I counted five Monarch Butterflies coming off of the lake today – all during that third hour when the sun was out.
Here is a list of the suspected migrant waterbirds today followed by a few photos.
| Species | East | West |
|---|---|---|
| Double-crested Cormorant | 0 | 29 |
| Red-necked Grebe | 6 | 13 |
| Horned Grebe | 5 | 1 |
| Common Loon | 1 | 3 |
| White-winged Scoter | 0 | 11 |
| Gadwall | 10 | 0 |
| Great Egret | 0 | 1 |
