Hi Tweets,

The subadult male _v-nigra_ (_v-nigrum_ in Madge & Burns 'Waterfowl'; anyone
know why the difference?) race Common Eider (COEI) was at Kitsilano Beach in
a mixed scoter flock late this morning for about 30 minutes. The feeding
flock was just 20-30 meters out from the walkway around Kitsilano Pool. It's
a magnificent bird, and will become even more so as the current plumage
abrades further and exposes more of the emerging Definitive Alternate male
plumage. According to the remarks in Madge & Burn, the plumage state would
apparently put this little rascal into its third winter unless male COEI can
get some Definitive Alternate features in its second Alternate molt and
retain them through the following year.

Though it appears to be mainly white-front, dark-everything else, it's
actually got a fairly complex plumage pattern, like a male Gadwall, and
apparently it's moving through molt quite quickly, so, broadly: bright
orange bill, curved slightly concave and very long, with the shields
extending high onto the crown and split very deeply by the forecrown forming
a deep 'widow's peak'; head is generally a mottled dusky grey on the sides,
darker cap emerging, pale grey with very subtle flat greyish lime-green wash
on rear crown and nape; neck and chest white, sides blackish-grey, paler
grey on flanks; pale grey patch at rear-flank, blackish bum; folded wing
grey-brown with subtle pattern of edging on tertials, underwing had pale
grey coverts, darker grey flight feathers.

It's a big kid, too. Rides lower in the water than the scoters though
bulkier; the Titanic wouldn't have wanted to sideswipe this baby. And don't
worry about overlooking it in the flock: if it's there, you'll see it; that
big orange durante really jumps out at ya.

After about twenty-five minutes of watching the eider feed and preen, the
gathered crowd had the privilege of watching two oblivious kayakers put the
entire flock to flight and that was the end of the sighting. It shared the
scoters' panic radius of 100+ meters. If it isn't dogs on land...

And I think I've finally figured out the reason why scoters panic at the
sight of approaching kayak and canoes, and put it up for discussion. Loons
and grebes don't seem to care much: they just dive out of the way.
Goldeneyes and Buffleheads fly off a short distance, often just circle back
to the feeding area. Scoters show no such tolerance whatsoever--they take
off en masse and *vamoose*. This suggests flight from a predator, but which
one? Superficially, the profile of a kayak or canoe with one person in it
could conceivably resemble the shape of an Orca, but it's hard to imagine
Killer Whales wolfing down scoters when salmon or the odd seal is easier to
catch. So while the kayakers were approaching the flock this morning, I
tried to imagine from the birds' point of view what predator might be
incoming at them. I think it's the oars. The on-off flashing of the
paddle-blades may be similar to the on-off flash of white head and/or tail
of an incoming Bald Eagle, and eagles definitely love to chow down on
scoters. So it's only a theory. Comments?

The eider's presence in a flock of spit-distance Surf, White-winged and
Black Scoters also gave a good opportunity to appreciate how stunning each
of the scoters is up close, and to study a pesky little ID problem: at this
time of the year, many subadult male White-winged Scoters turn a warm, pale
brown and since they share a similar profile with the eiders, and since the
white wingpatch on the secondaries is often covered by scapulars and/or
coverts and doesn't always show, it's easy to entertain the possibility of
the bird being an female or juv eider.

Then in late afternoon over to Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park, where there's a
*colossal* flock of Lesser Scaup et al, conservative minimum 7,000 birds,
probably closer to 8,000 (boy, there's more every winter at the Lagoon since
about 1992, wish I knew what's driving the 3x-4x increase). A male Tufted
Duck was where it's usually been hanging: at the Stone Bridge at the W end
of the Lagoon. It was in the feeding area immediately adjacent to the
bridge ducking (heh) the big guys fighting it out over birdseed, grain, or
bread in the feeding melees, trundling back and forth in the channel leading
to the Lagoon, or in the western Lagoon itself but within about 50 meters of
the channel entrance.

It's a definitive male (another male's supposed to be in the area; with that
number of scaup I'd expect another two or three TUDU to be there) with a
dependant floppy crest about 1-1.5 inches long. It's a photographer's dream,
coming to feed from the hand, just another hungry little freeloader.

Cheers


Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada When I found out that seven of my years
(604) 668-5073 vx was only one of theirs,
(604) 668-5028 fx I started biting absolutely everything.
mprice at mindlink.net
michael.price at istar.ca -Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada When I found out that seven of my years
(604) 668-5073 vx was only one of theirs,
(604) 668-5028 fx I started biting absolutely everything.
mprice at mindlink.net
michael.price at istar.ca -Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)