The day started overcast, light wind, and light drizzle. It morphed into partly sunny and very high winds — 30-40 mph!
Several fishing boats came in overnight, so we were anticipating some output from the fish processing plant to the outflow pipe at the Sweeper Cove jetty. This would attract a lot of gulls, increasing our chances of spotting something different. Unfortunately, although we checked several times during the day, no outflow emerged, hence no new gulls.
Up at Clam Lagoon, we finally spotted three Emperor Geese — a species we have had on every fall trip. We were beginning to worry…
Out on the peninsula, the flock of shorebirds was down to one Red-necked Stint and two western Sandpipers.
The seawall had grebes and loons and the usual suspects.
As we drove back around, past Lake Shirley, a Peregrine Falcon made repeated passes over our truck, around the bluff and back.
Peregrine Falcon, Lake Shirley, 09/23/12
We drove one more time up to White Alice for Snow Buntings, and this time, in 40 mph winds, we found them.
Snow Bunting, White Alice, 09/23/12
As mentioned above, the fish plant outflow never appeared, but we had a small feeding-frenzy of gulls and kittiwakes out at the end of the jetty, allowing me to get some nice photos of kittiwakes. Here is a gallery of Kittiwakes.
Black-legged Kittiwake and Glaucous-winged Gull, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Black-legged Kittiwake, Sweeper Cove, 09/23/12
Hope this wind blows in something exciting…