Avalon watch

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Who watches the watchers? It's the ever present gulls; they keep track of what's going on. Nothing passes their attention. (See yesterday's post.) Perhaps they count the counters.

The men in the photo are part of the Avalon Sea Watch, a count of migrating seabirds at an observation point overlooking the ocean at the north end of Avalon, New Jersey. This location extends a mile farther out into the ocean than the coastline to the north.

Southbound seabirds that are following the shoreline pass very close to this beachfront. Birds are counted seven days a week, from dawn to dusk, rain or shine, cold weather or even colder weather, from September 22 to December 22. An average of almost 800,000 seabirds are counted at the Avalon Sea Watch annually. Sometimes as many as one million.

When we were there in early October, over 8,000 double-crested cormorants had already been tallied. All under the watchful eyes of the gulls.

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