Surf Scoter

As for the coastline there were forty or more Common Eiders working the exposed, rough conditions, a couple pairs of Buffleheads, a single Surf Scoter, three Long-tailed Ducks, two Black Guillemots, and four Harlequin Ducks.

Other first of season birds being seen are Horned and Red-necked Grebes, Red-throated Loons and White-winged and Surf Scoters.

Other noteworthy mentioning’s at these two locations include, Buffleheads, Surf Scoters, White-winged Scoters, Horned Grebes Long-tailed Ducks, Great Cormorants, and the fantastically adorned Harlequin duck – seemingly at home amid the tumult of the crashing seas.

…a Herring Gull pilfering a Common Eiders hard earned meal (a mussel), two diving Horned Grebes, nine Black Scoters, six Surf Scoters, one male Long-tailed Duck, three Common Loons, one Red-breasted Merganser and one adult Bald Eagle that flew rather low along the length of the beach.

Later that same day on Trundy Point I spotted three Common Goldeneyes, the aforementioned Black Guillemot, two Harlequin Ducks, Common Eiders, a Common Loon, Black and Surf Scoters (aka skunk-headed coots) and nineteen Purple Sandpipers.

On this same day I spotted six Surf Scoters off of Crescent Beach State Park and a solo Orange Crowned Warbler along Pond Cove.

In the last days of February off of Dyer Point, Trundy Point, Pond Cove and Fort Williams I saw the following - Common Loons, Common Eiders, Harlequin Ducks, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Black and Surf Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers.

Later that day I noted seven black and white sea ducks called Surf Scoters aka “old skunkhead’s” off of Crescent Beach State Park.

Also, on October 10 my first Surf Scoter of the year flew over my son and me at close range along Trundy Point.

Other highlights from the same day included a dozen Northern Gannets plunging into offshore waters and the season’s first sightings of White-winged, Black and Surf Scoters.