Grant Hendrickson writes:

>Because I had previously had a difficult time locating Oldsquaw, I thought
>some Tweeters might be interested in a group of four we saw on a SAS field
>trip yesterday. Leader Richard Youel put us on the float at Mystery Bay on
>Marrowstone Island where we had great looks at four beautifully plumaged
>birds in a narrow channel. Veterans on the trip indicated these were the
>closest looks they had seen. Mystery Bay is on p. 94 of the Delorme atlas,
>coordinates D3.


If you're heading over to Whidbey Island to see the immature male King Eider,
*anchored* among the surf scoters and harlequins, and straight out from the
parking area at the west end of Hastie Lake Road, there were about 10-12
Oldsquaw not far offshore ravenously diving and feeding there, while a few
others were also present in Penn Cove, quite close to shore and dazzling in
the bright sun off Coupeville (just east of town center) on Sunday afternoon,
Jan. 07.

Richard Rowlett <pagodroma at aol.com>
Bellevue, WA, USA