Saturday, April 2, 2011

Little Gull and other waterbirds northbound

Birders at the crossover at St. Pete's (particularly Sam Galick) counted waterbirds passing Cape May Point this morning from dawn to 11:30 am (some 4.75 hours) with these northbound highlights:

261 Double-crested Cormorants,
419 Great Blue Herons,
119 Great Egrets,
17 Snowy Egrets,
2 Tricolored Herons,
12 Least Sandpipers, and
1 adult basic-plumaged Little Gull.

Amongst the southbound birds were 476 Northern Gannets. Sam said that gannet numbers were picking up at the end and my count of 272 from Miami Beach (all adults) from 10:50 to 11:35 agreed with that. Alas, I did not see the Little Gull from there, though did count 20 northbound Bonaparte's Gulls.

Glen Davis reported 24 Snowy Egrets, 1 Little Blue Heron, and 5 Western Sandpipers from Stone Harbor Point, so the small herons are certainly arriving.

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