I had been desparing that this fall could produce
anything like last November's influx of Pacific and Red-throated Loons, plus
crossbills and Northern Shrikes, until I saw a post on BIRDCHAT about an
invasion of scoters and Oldsquaws. (The post called them "Long-tailed Ducks").
Apparently, there have already been an unusual number of records of these
species in western states, including Colorado. Scoters usually show up here in
November. Hopefully, the influx already underway will come east far enough to
reach us.
Another post mentioned a lot of Northern Goshawks
seen at Duluth. We can expect them down here. Indeed, some are already showing
up.
Unlike the last two years, this does not seem to be
a year for Sabine's Gulls. I have so far noted only one jaeger report on
the Missouri and Kansas listservs. But there is still time for jaegers between
now and the end of November.
I assume early freezups around the rim of the
Arctic Ocean are responsible for the presence in our part of the country of
birds that normally migrate to salt water, like Pacific and Red-throated Loons,
scoters, jaegers and Sabine's Gulls. The scoter/Oldsquaw influx in the west
offers at least some hope that we'll see some action this November.