Tweets,

Nancy and I set out this morning in hopes of enjoying close views of the Discovery Park Snowy Owl, were advised it hadn't yet been seen that morning (on our return it was putting on the usual show on the roof of the building just south of the chapel), so hoofed it on down to the lighthouse.

Beautiful day. Cold, clear, Mts. Rainier and Baker looming on the horizons. After scoping some Surf Scoters, a Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, and flyby Common Murres and Red-throated Loon, I noticed a lone brown duck some 250 yards off the point. It was drifting slowly south and gradually coming a bit closer to the point. Though it never came closer than about 150 yards, it struck me as very likely a female plumaged King Eider. I was able to show it to another passing birder, Alan someone, who I hope will chime in, as he's on tweeters.

I got home a bit ago and consulted Sibley and see no reason to change my initial impression that it was in fact a KING EIDER. This is, so far as I know, the second King County record, the first being a young male collected off Lincoln Park 30 October 1948!

We watched it for at least 30 minutes as it drifted past the point. It was awake but did not dive, flap, nor fly during that time, though it spun around a bit to show various angles. I could just barely pick it out in my 10x binoculars but could see it clearly at 30x with my scope, though fine plumage details were out of range.

The shape of the bird, especially the head and bill profile was as I recall for King Eider, which I have seen several times in various plumages, including the juvenile. The head was very plain sandy brown; the crown sloped to the bill base; the bill was black and rather thick at the base, seemingly feathered for some distance; I thought I saw a pale tip to the bill, a detail that doesn't fit the illustrations I've consulted so far, but which might be possible on an early 1st year male with the bill beginning to turn. The back and breast were darker brown than the head, with little or no pattern evident at the distance, except for a distinct very narrow white line that angled at ca 45 degrees up and back across the folded wing, which was likely the pale tips of the greater secondary coverts, a feature shown by Sibley on the bird in flight, though he does not show it on the resting bird. However, Madge and Burn's figure 130d does show this mark and that illustration is otherwise the best match for what I saw. The bird seemed approximately scoter-sized but was never close to any other bird for comparison. The sun was over my left shoulder and the water was relatively flat, allowing excellent views considering the distance. The bird was last seen drifting away toward the south. This was between 11 and noon today. Who knows; it might drift by again even closer.

Gene Hunn
18476 47th Pl NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
enhunn323 at comcast.net