Thanks for posting this. Can you tell me something about the Eider --
male/female -- I assume in eclipse plumage? I'm thinking about making a day
run so any advice would be helpful, thanks.

>
>Yesterday was definitely for the ducks. I trekked up to Whidbey I. to
>check out the King Eider, and managed to wind up with 23 species of
>'quackers' by days end. I somehow managed to not find a Wood Duck, but
>otherwise saw all the normally occurring winter ducks in WA.
>
>As reported on the Birdbox, the eider is 'parked' at the end of Hastie
>Lake Rd. on Whidbey I. All you have to do is set up your scope and scan
>for a few minutes. Also out there are several Harlequin Ducks, a handful
>of Oldsquaw, and Barrow's Goldeneye. Back in Seattle, a Common Loon was
>off Seward Park in Lake Washington (with Red-breasted Mergansers), and 2
>drake Eurasian Wigeons were at Sayres Park.
>
>The mergansers refused to be predictable yesterday. Normally down near
>Seward Park, Hooded Mergs are found along the shoreline, and Common Mergs
>are out in deeper water. I usually have to go to Alki to see
>Red-breasted Mergs. But yesterday, only the Red-breasted was down on
>that part of Lake Washington, and I didn't see any Hooded Mergs until I
>got to a *saltwater* cove on Whidbey Island.
>
>And I somehow missed the 'Bird' by just a few minutes - by that I mean
>fellow tweeter Fred Bird, who was at the eider location just minutes
>before me, according to his post.
>
>Cheers...
>
>-------------
>Michael R. Smith
>Univ. of Washington, Seattle
>whimbrel at u.washington.edu
>http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html
>
>