Avalon Seawatch 11/7--White-winged Scoter, Parasitic Jaeger

Long periods of this punctuated by flights of silhouettes

Mike & I went down to the Avalon Seawatch in Cape May County today, hoping for a couple of year birds, which we got. Today's weather was borderline dreary and it still hasn't penetrated my head that I have to wear warmer clothes--probably should have worn a knit cap instead of my Ding Darling baseball cap with a hole in its crown--so with the northerly wind it was a little uncomfortable standing still looking at the occasional long line of Black Scoters fly by.  My "count" of 950 is laughably arbitrary. I admire the official counter for his attempt at accuracy--yesterday he tallied 2638 Black Scoters going north to south. 

As to the year birds--the first was a Parasitic Jaeger we saw in typical fashion: a large dark, distant bird skipping along the top of the breakers, chasing a gull. We knew it was a Jaeger because it wasn't a gull (and the seawatcher got it in his scope) but that's the best I can say for it. 

Somehow, both Mike & I were still missing White-winged Scoter, the least numerous of the 3 regularly appearing scoters. Many scoter silhouettes flew by at speed (the north wind giving them a boost), but it was until we had been standing there for an hour that 5 scoters with obvious white wing patches flew by. With that we figured we'd had enough. I also admire the counter for his endurance--to stand every day as the weather gets colder and gloomier (it rained the last half of today) counting thousands of ducks and distinguishing which was are Black Scoters from which ones are Surf Scoters, with the occasional merganser, teal, long-tail, or even Wood Duck thrown in, (and for negligible remuneration) is quite a feat of persistence and dedication. It sure doesn't look like fun.

There were a few ducks I couldn't get on due to distance, speed, and poor eyesight, while the Green-winged Teal, even though I did see 3 smaller ducks mixed in with the scoters, are definitely "if you say so" birds. My list came out to 15. The birds I enjoyed the most were the gannets, plunge diving into the ocean and brilliant white against the ever darkening skies.

Brant 23
Green-winged Teal 3
White-winged Scoter 5
Black Scoter 950
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 1
Northern Gannet 10
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Sanderling 7
Parasitic Jaeger 1
Bonaparte's Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 5
Great Black-backed Gull 1