On Monday Steve Baker and I conducted a second waterbird count from McGalpin Point from 6:45am till 10am. It was pretty slow with few birds flying in the strong west winds and 4 to 6 ft. waves; although we had some interesting sightings. As Darrell said the first hour was the most active. In the first hour we counted 6 Common Loons, 1 Caspian Tern, 3 Bald Eagles, 16 Great Egrets and one unidentified sandpiper.
The Bald Eagles were all seen leaving the UP at different times and flying south to the Lower going by us. The two adults both flew just above the waves while the immature flew about 30 to 40 high.
A flock of Great Egrets flew from the northeast toward the southwest continuing on out of sight. They also flew just above the waves.
The second hour brought a flock of 13 Mallards heading south, two Horned Grebes swam by near shore headed west and a group of 3 White-winged Scoters flew by to the west headed southwest.
The third hour brought 2 more C. Loons and a very distant flock of 7 probable Long-tailed Ducks that were flying north. At the end of the hour it started raining and we called it a day.
