Waterbird Count – 28 October

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the out-of-sequence post, but after filling in for Aspen on Saturday I decided to stick around and visit the owl banders.  Having not made it home until after midnight, I decided to wait to post until I could write it while actually awake.  The waterbird count on Saturday featured lots of birds, but nothing in comparison to Aspen’s Harlequin Duck from today!  My day mostly consisted of Long-tailed Ducks, Redheads, and White-winged Scoters.  The surprise though was the number of Northern Harriers that came south.  It was a big day for them with 11 spotted during the count.  The real excitement was that both a Great Black-backed Gull and a Lesser Black-backed Gull were seen flying south during the count.  This is the first time I have spotted both species in the same day.  Here is a list of all birds counted for the day.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  35
goose sp. (Anser/Branta sp.)  11
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  5
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  9
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  3
Redhead (Aythya americana)  126
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  2
Aythya sp. (Aythya sp.)  130
White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca)  115
Black Scoter (Melanitta americana)  4
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)  1175
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  3
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  12
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  8
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)  39
duck sp. (Anatinae sp.)  219
Common Loon (Gavia immer)  9
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)  21
Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena)  1
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)  11
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)  4
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)  11
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)  2
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  3
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  1
Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus)  6
Buteo sp. (Buteo sp.)  2
hawk sp. (Accipitridae sp. (hawk sp.))  4
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)  117
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  3
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)  4
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)  1
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1
gull sp. (Larinae sp.)  9
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  165
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  5
Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)  35
Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus)  1
passerine sp. (Passeriformes sp.)  12

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