Seawatch Report - Nov 19

Today was a quiet day at the count, which isn't wholly unwelcome after the big flights and exciting birds we've enjoyed during the last week. The scoter flight has hit another lull, it seems: just 98 Surf (and 1 Black) today. The loon flight was diminished, too: just 501 Red-throats and 92 Pacifics. It's amazing to think back to last Friday--just five days ago--when we had more than 20,000 Pacific Loons. It's a dynamic flight; a dynamic place; and not knowing what each day will bring is, for me, part of what makes seawatching so exciting.

We did have a nice morning murre flight, with our daily total coming out at 2187. We also had 4 Rhinoceros Auklets (it's also crazy to me how much the murre/Rhino composition changes here on a day to day basis!), 2 Marbled Murrelets, and 2 Ancient Murrelets.

It was a quiet tubenose day--just 19 fulmars; 10 Sooty Shearwaters; 2 Black-vented Shearwaters.

Less-common highlights included a Black-legged Kittiwake, a Pomarine Jaeger, and a Black Scoter.

Winds at the count remained <5 knots all day. Visibility was fairly good, the swell minimal. Overnight, the wind at the outer buoy had been NW at ~10 knots, switching to the NE by sunrise. The pressure dropped from 30.15 at 0800 to 30.04 by count's end.

See the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/294107

- Alison Vilag