Date: 10/12/25 3:34 pm From: 'Steve Mirick' via NHBirds <nhbirds...> Subject: [NHBirds] 22,960 Cormorants!!! (Massive migration plus some coastal migrants)
Jane and I spent the day on the coast today and got treated to (by far)
my best day ever for Double-crested Cormorants. They unloaded from up
north and we ended up with nearly 23,000 birds. AMAZINGLY, our previous
high count (and highest count previously for NH?) was 10,404 on this
same date of October 12 back in 2013!
Oct 12, 2025 8:15 AM - 4:00 PM
Checklist Comments: Strong coastal storm to our south and strong high pressure to the north combined to give moderate NE winds of 20 to 30 knots. Unfortunately, the wind direction didn't produce many sea birds, but helped to give us an incredible migration of Double-crested Cormorants. Overcast with NE winds and excellent visibility all day except for a brief period of light rain and fog. About 4 hours at Ragged Neck in Rye (with Ben Griffith and Robyn Prieto) and then 3.5 hours at Little Boar's Head.
Count of birds migrating south only except for Razorbills.
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Brant 1 Close single bird migrating.
Canada Goose 3 Remarkably few migrating.
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 7
Northern Pintail 3
Green-winged Teal 23
Common Eider 44
Surf Scoter 97
White-winged Scoter 16
Black Scoter 10
scoter sp. 179
Long-tailed Duck 1 First of fall.
Red-breasted Merganser 8
Razorbill 2 Two birds together flying north. Large alcids with lots of white on face and heavy bill.
Laughing Gull 13 Steady slow trickle in afternoon of just about all single birds. Mix of adults and juveniles.
Ring-billed Gull X Some migrating in afternoon.
American Herring Gull X Some migrating in afternoon.
Red-necked Grebe 2
Red-throated Loon 23 Not terribly unusual this early, but this is a high count. Steady count of single birds and twos. Compare 42 on 10/12/20. Some close views, a couple not counted on water.
Common Loon 113 Good migration of birds with as many as 5 in groups. Some high overhead, some offshore.
loon sp. 14
Northern Gannet X 20 to 50 birds in view most of morning; foraging and diving offshore. In afternoon, a southbound movement was noted, but not big and mostly single birds. With the cormorants moving and without a clicker, no count was obtained. A (relatively) high percentage of juveniles was noted.
Great Cormorant 2 Migrating with DCCO.
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT 22,960 Mega-Migration! Twice my highest count for NH and likely twice the highest count for NH! From 8:15 AM to 12:15 PM a respectable count of 3,359. Then between 12:30 and the end of the day, an explosion of birds; many moving directly down Rt. 1A with birds flying close and fast with a great tail wind. As we parked pointing north from Little Boar's Head, flock after flock flew by right overhead with occasional big flocks offshore. Between 2 and 3 PM, 12,320 were counted in complete madness as we attempted to estimate flocks! Largest "flocks" (combined close flocks) of 1,200, 1,050, 1,000, 820, 800, 650, 500, 500.
Great Blue Heron 4
Peregrine Falcon 1
View this checklist online athttps://ebird.org/checklist/S279020805
