There wasn’t much of an evening flight on May 13, though a close pass by two Red-throated Loons was very enjoyable. There were no Bonaparte’s Gulls seen that evening though. It turns out that they were all waiting for today, May 14. During the eight hour count beginning at sunrise, 1920 were tallied. In an hour and a half in the evening an additional 130 were seen, giving us an exceptional daily total of 2050. One flock in the late morning had an accompanying Little Gull, always a delightful sight.
Loon numbers were modest today with 105 Common Loons and 15 Red-throated Loons counted. Then there was a loon that we first called out as a Red-throated in the distance, then switched to Common after it got closer, then after it cleared the glare patch over the lake to the east it revealed itself to be a Pacific Loon, the second for the season. Unlike the first one, this one was able to be enjoyed by several visiting birders and was even spotted over the lake from the hawk deck after a radio alert went out.
White-winged Scoter numbers have yet to peak. There were 13 during the first eight hours today and 21 in the evening flight. A lone male Surf Scoter was seen early in the morning and two unidentified dark-winged scoters were seen in the afternoon.
