Temp in the 50s, drizzle on and off all day, occasional sunshine, wind N 10-20 mph
Since this was the anniversary of our (FIRST NORTH AMERICAN RECORD!!) Eurasian Sparrowhawk, we assumed we would get another…
Well, we got another long-tailed, short-winged lifer, but it wasn’t an accipiter.
On our way up to Clam Lagoon, as we crested the hill leading down to the Palisades Overlook, a medium-sized bird flew across the road, perched briefly on the guardrail, and then dropped into the ravine next to the road. We inched the truck forward and Barb spotted the bird sitting on a rock and quickly identified it as a cuckoo!
I jumped out and got a few photos before it flew across the road and disappeared over the cliff edge.
Cuckoo (Oriental — we hope!), Palisades Overlook, Sept 21, 2017
Our best guess at this point is an Oriental Cuckoo (most common in the Fall on the Aleutians — although the one we had in the Fall of 2009 was a Common Cuckoo). We are consulting others about its identity.
Before we got there, at Sweeper Cove, we had a Horned Grebe. Most of the grebes we see here are up at the Seawall, so this was unusual (for us).
At Contractor’s Camp Marsh we still had two Pacific-Golden Plovers.
Up at Clam Lagoon, we stopped at the West Overlook and Barb spotted a flock of shorebirds flying across the lagoon. They landed out on the Peninsula. We could see that there were 4 Sanderlings and 6 peeps, so I walked out there to get a closer look.
Five of the peeps flew off and the remaining one was a Western.
Sanderlings, Clam Lagoon, Sept 21, 2017
Western Sandpiper, Clam Lagoon, Sept 21, 2017
Just after I got back to the truck, the remaining 5 peeps flew in and landed just a short distance out on the flats. They were 4 Western Sandpipers and the Little Stint. We also saw a Pectoral Sandpiper nearby. I did not walk the marsh edge today.
There was nothing new at the Seawall. The surf was raging, making seeing anything beyond the crashing waves difficult. Also, the ocean spray was almost directly in our faces, so our binos and scope quickly became useless. On the east side of the lagoon, we saw that the flock(?) of Emperor Geese had grown to 3!
At Candlestick Bridge, a tattered Black-legged Kittiwake didn’t seem to care that I was standing there, He was more interested in fishing.
Black-legged Kittiwake, Clam Lagoon, Sept 21, 2017
Back up at the north end of the lagoon, the kittiwakes were in for a bath.
Black-legged Kittiwakes (and a few Glaucous-winged Gulls, Clam Lagoon, Sept 21, 2017
Black-legged Kittiwakes (and a few Glaucous-winged Gulls, Clam Lagoon, Sept 21, 2017
Regardless of the cuckoo identification, our Year’s List stands at 92.