Seawatch Report - Dec 2

Today's Seawatch was highlighted by a substantial early morning Common Murre flight, 5 late-afternoon Black-legged Kittiwakes, and a nice mid-afternoon pop of murre and loon movement after a rather slow late morning-noon.

We tallied 7453 Common Murres heading out of the bay today, with many of these passing in the peak hour of 0700, when, counting by 5s, we tallied 4070. The murre flight settled down by 0900, but picked up again from 1300-1600; we also had 105 Rhinoceros Auklets, 2 Marbled Murrelets, and 1 Ancient Murrelet.

The loon flight was moderately busy today: 1124 Pacifics passed (mostly on the far outer bay-cutting line) during "loon hour" (0700-0800), with 2508 total getting tallied today, thanks to another little push from 1300-1600. We had 280 Red-throats today, with peak hours being 0800 and 1500.

Quiet on the tubenose (7 Northern Fulmars) and Surf Scoter (175 total) fronts today, but the five Black-legged Kittiwakes (all, except one, were first-cycle) that came by at close range in perfect late-afternoon light were a delight, the first I've seen for several days at the Seawatch. (Some were seen yesterday, on my day off, too!).

Another element about Seawatch that I enjoyed yesterday was the opportunity to hold an impromptu session of seawatch school with a couple gals from Santa Clara County: the pace and distance of the afternoon push was perfect to really hone in on, for example, Pacific vs juvenile Red-throat in flight, and it was fun to help demystify one of the most challenging forms of birding there is.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/297709

-Alison Vilag