2024 Water Bird Count Week 7

The first week of October was one to remember! This week had multiple days of strong North and Northwest winds that pushed a lot of birds through the straits. The most numerous of which was redhead (5,864). This is a substantial increase of birds compared to last week and this week saw multiple days with over 1,000 redheads moving through. In fact, the entire Aythya genus was moving this week with canvasback (2), ring-necked duck (1), lesser scaup (139), greater scaup (51), greater/lesser scaup (306), and Aythya sp. (1580) were all recorded. Other diving ducks seen this week were long-tailed duck (1) common goldeneye (14), bufflehead (5), hooded (6), common (93), and red-breasted mergansers (145). Along with two species of scoter, white-wing scoter (44) and surf scoter (4). The surf scoters were a first for the count this season!
We also noticed good dabbling duck diversity. Mallard (72), Northern pintail (24), Northern shoveler (4), American wigeon (41), gadwall (10), and American black duck (3) were all seen this week. We recorded a total of 19 species of duck this week.
Other than our duck friends we noticed a good number of common loons (374), red-throated loons (11), red-necked grebes (18), horned grebes (13), Sandhill cranes (58), and Canada geese (413). We did have a few notable migrants this week. We saw the long-awaited return of common terns (3) and we recorded our second cackling goose (1) of the season! Non water birds have also been seen, turkey vulture (208) has been coming through in high numbers, as have bald eagles (36). Passerines are still moving South as white-crowned sparrow (23) and American pipits (98) are a daily occurrence. We also noticed a single rusty blackbird this week at Graham Point.
With such an exciting start to the month, we look forward to what other birds October has in store for us.