Jamie, I can't say anything about the tern except the obvious that, because
birds can fly, they frequently turn up outside their normal spatial or
temporal range.

But the scaup story is not surprising to me. Greater Scaups (but not
Lesser, in my experience) often feed in very shallow salt water, like
dabbling ducks but just with head submerged at a shallow angle. This puts
them at the beach, and perhaps it was easier for them to go on shore when
they didn't feel like feeding than it would have been to swim way out
beyond the surf zone.

I suspect the ducks you are most likely to see perching on shore in salt
water are those that feed in a zone of swift current or crashing waves, and
they come out on shore for the same reason--it's easier. Their typical
foraging location is why we see Harlequins so commonly out of the water but
essentially never Oldsquaws.

What the scaup were foraging for I can't say, but they are known to be
mollusk, especially bivalve, feeders, and I wouldn't be surprised if they
were feeding on small (razor?) clams.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416