Waterbird Count Week 3 Update

This season’s waterbird count continues to get better, with the last week producing many great birds. The best bird was a Say’s Phoebe that I found flycatching in the trees behind the waterbird shack. Other good birds include the third Great Egret for the fall count on Aug. 28, a flock of 18 Hudsonian Godwits on Aug. 28, and the first Franklin’s Gull for the fall waterbird count since 2010! Jaegers have been seen almost daily, most of them being left unidentified due to distance. Tuesday, Aug. 30, produced the largest flight of the season, with over 1,800 birds being counted. The majority of the flight was made up of 986 Red-necked Grebes and 654 Blue-winged Teals, but there was a good diversity of other dabblers as well.