Moderate onshore winds from the northwest sustained through the night into the early morning, and we woke up excited to see what birds might be streaming out of the bay. Pre-dawn saw a few hundred Common Murres on their way out, as well as a close first-year Black-legged Kittiwake.
Brian Sullivan kept an eye on the Common Loon (n=198) line cutting south across the peninsula. These birds flew very high over the Highway One corridor and were silhouetted well against the morning glow. The sunrise was punctuated by a distant group of seven Sandhill Cranes in this line - an exciting first Point bird for the observers.
Small groups of Bonaparte's gulls were mostly seen in the morning, as well as a few flocks of Brant (mostly far offshore). A Black-footed Albatross made an appearance and was seen a few times over a quarter-hour span. The first Ancient Murrelet of the count made a close flyby mid-morning.
As the sun rose higher, the winds shifted slightly to the north and lost speed. During this time, the number of Red Phalaropes slightly increased. The 60 total birds we saw are a marked increase from the previous day's total of 6 birds.
Notably, the Surf Scoter flight appears to have begun! Our total of 2199 birds saw many larger flocks of up to 80 birds with the last hour of the count seeing 669 birds - up from just 92 total birds for yesterday. As Brian predicted in the morning, the late morning wind shift drifted the flight lines out to the northwest, which meant our attention was divided. Docents and volunteers were extremely helpful in spotting the many flocks that flew by closer to shore. A Long-tailed Duck was another exciting rarity seen smack in the middle of a flock of 20 Surf Scoters. The scoter flight was sustained all day.
Keeping the trend, Pacific Loons were seen in low numbers with larger flocks seen in the morning. Smaller numbers of Red-throated Loons were also present.
The wind picked up substantially in the afternoon, shifting back to the northwest. This brought tubenoses into the bay, with Pink-footed Shearwaters being most prominent. Northern Fulmars were seen all day, but with the largest numbers in the afternoon - it was exciting to see these birds after missing them last year. We were also very excited to spot 4 Buller's Shearwaters far inside the bay; these birds were surprisingly close to shore and offered excellent views. A more distant shearwater was revealed to be a Manx Shearwater. Two more first-cycle Black-legged Kittiwakes were also seen at the end of the day, along with a pair of jaegers. Large groups of Common Murres were constantly streaming out of the bay the whole afternoon.
Incidentally, a warbler flew directly over our heads and dove into the bushes behind the Point - immediately following it dove a Merlin at full speed, not more than five meters over our heads. I predict this bird will be seen terrorizing passerines for the remainder of the count.
- Kai Russell
View the full checklist of birds here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/290181
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