A snowy morning on December 11th.
And that’s a wrap on another good season! I’ll briefly go over the last few weeks of the season and then present you with some totals! Make sure to check out Trektellen for more detailed totals!
The final three weeks of the season were slow at times, but brought some nice rarities and a late-season scoter flight. We never had a long, deep-freeze to push more ducks south, so we lacked more Long-tailed Duck and Bufflehead this month. However, we did have an unusual late-season scoter flight, which peaked with 10,055 on the 8th. There was also a nice late-season flight of Laughing Gulls with 154 on the 2nd. Other notable birds include 11 Great Cormorants, 13 White-winged Scoters on 12/21, two late Brown Pelicans northbound on 12/15 and southbound the next day, two Common Mergansers, a late Osprey on the 3rd, four Redhead on the 2nd, and two Canvasback on the 22nd.
Rarities of the last three weeks included: Pacific Loon, Black-legged Kittiwake (21), Iceland Gull, Cackling Goose, Razorbill (268), Dovekie (5), Harlequin Duck (9), and a Brown Booby.
Brief Season Summary
Season Total: 638,256
Top 5 Species:
Black Scoter: 147,538
Surf Scoter: 91,569
Red-throated Loon: 50,638
Double-crested Cormorant: 128,573
Northern Gannet: 67,711
Notable counts:
Harlequin Duck: 25 (Record count; previous high of 13 in 2009)
White Ibis: 1 (first count record)
Brown Pelican: 492 (2nd highest count; record is 635 in 2009)
Brown Booby: 4 (Record count; previous high of 2 in 2010, 2015 & 2016)
Black-legged Kittiwake: 39 (2nd highest count; record is 201 in 1996)
Razorbill: 382 (2nd highest count; record is 3262 in 2018)
For more details about the season, be sure to check out the next issue of the Peregrine Observer!
Thanks again to everyone who visited this year and to CMBO and NJA for another great season!
David Weber
The Seawatch board on the last day!
