December 13

The weather pattern of the last few days has shown unusual regularity. A morning offshore breeze from the east shifts to south or southwest in the afternoon. Such were the winds today. Never strong enough to create whitecaps, or induce seabirds to fly in numbers.

Dawn broke with a not-so-common-at-the-point Common Goldeneye and twice as many California Gulls than Western Gulls flying over the water. Loon Hour disappointed with the number of loons–79 Pacific and 13 Red-throated–but delivered with the alcid show. More than 800 Common Murres, 46 Rhino Auklets, and 14 Cassin’s Auklets appeared over the water. An astounding 172 Ancient Murrelets, counted individually flying out of the bay, tripped the eBird rare bird filter.

By the 8:00 am hour the loons and alcids had slowed to a trickle and by the 9:00 am hour the loons had shut off completely with not a single loon recorded in the hour. These zero to single digit hourly numbers would continue throughout the day. Late in the morning a distant scrum developed, involving thousands of gulls too distant to identify.

In the afternoon, the low loon and alcid numbers continued, involving flights of single digits to low double digits of birds. Just before dusk, as the clouds rolled in and the skies darkened, the alcid flight picked up. Nearly 100 Common Murre, 8 Rhino Auklets, and 18 Ancient Murrelets were recorded in the last hour of the day. Surf Scoter numbers were strong all afternoon, with several big flocks sneaking by low over the water, high over our heads, or behind us over the lighthouse. Counts of mid to high double digits and low triple digits were recorded each hour of the afternoon.

The bird of the afternoon, however, was probably Brant. Several big flocks flew by, causing us to shout “Scoters!” followed shortly by, “Oh No! Not Scoters! Those are Brant!” A small flock of them sat on the water for several hours just off First Rock.

It was an enjoyable afternoon, with many curious people strolling by asking the usual questions. Our young outreach volunteers did a fabulous job explaining the goals and purpose of our efforts. It was a joy to watch.

-Fred Hochstaedter

eBird Checklist:https://ebird.org/tripreport/442371