Hello Tweets,

The immature male KING EIDER made another nice showing for about 15 birders today until we left the bird(and birders)at 12pm from the west end of the Semiahmoo Marina near Blaine in Whatcom Co. The bird was first detected by us this morning at 8:30am along the southeast portion of the visible floating dock,as we scoped from the large-open area just west of the public parking area at the Semiahmoo Marina. During this time the bird hugged the inside portion of the floating dock pecking off muscles of the dock along the waters edge. The bird moved back and forth just beyond the stationary boats and never ventured too far to the west and overall was more difficult to see even with our spotting scopes. The only way to locate the bird(as it swam along the dark inside portion of the dock)was to see the pale breast and white wing patch moving,then the rest of the bird's outline could be detected.

At 9am the bird continued along the inside portion of the floating dock and swam through a large gap in the floating dock and presumable continued west along the outside portion of the dock. The bird was not detected again until around 10am just after Kraig and Kathy Kemper arrived,where Kraig spotted the bird resting calmly atop the floating dock near a gathering of Double-crested Cormorants,which was along the western portion of the floating dock system. The bird remained atop the dock for a short time until it plopped back into the water and began foraging along the inside portion of the dock. The bird was very active and ventured further out into the water at times,but then returned closer to the dock,which seemed to provide the best feeding. The bird also dove on several occasions,as it came up with small crabs at times and quickly munching them down. We continued watching the bird,as it swam underneath the dock onto the outside portion into the open water of Drayton Harbor. The bird remained in this area until we left at 12pm and never ventured too far away from the dock,but in most observations the bird foraged alone and seemed very comfortable with the surroundings. It was enjoyable to watch the bird's behavior,as it search for mollusks,etc.,but due to very poor lighting during the time hampered all photos to be obtained. Overall the bird never came especially close for everyone,but did offer good scoping views of it! Nonetheless,it was very good bird to see and hopefully it may stay much longer for more birders to see at this location.

Today during our visit while watching the King Eider the weather was crisp and cold,but sunny with a nice sunrise with Mt.Baker and the North Cascades to the east,as well as the Cascades and snow-covered hills into British Columbia. Drayton Harbor itself was full of birds,although the lighting from the Semiahmoo Marina remained quite poor,as we looked south. Before leaving the area we did manage to get better views of most of the waterbirds in Drayton Harbor further south along Drayton Harbor Rd. at it's intersection of Shintaffer Rd.(at the west end of the blocked portion of Drayton Harbor Rd.)Here,we located very impressive numbers of Ruddy Ducks with easily 1000+ birds noted as the dominant waterfowl species. Within these rafts of Ruddy Ducks we located 54 Canvasbacks,as well as small numbers of both Greater and Lesser Scaup. Further searches revealed a CLARK'S GREBE with several nearby Western Grebes for great comparisons. A raft of 96 "Black"Brant was also noted from the center of Drayton Harbor before flying north over Semiahmoo Spit into Semiahmoo Bay. Up to 32 Eared Grebes were tallied from Drayton Harbor with 4 additional birds in Semiahmoo Bay. Also of note in Semiahmoo Bay were 12 Long-tailed Ducks,as well as 3 Long-tailed Ducks observed in Drayton Harbor while watching the King Eider.

A few other species of note from the general Blaine-Drayton Harbor area included the following:

25+ Red-throated Loons
10 Harlequin Ducks
12 Black Scoters
1 Merlin
2 adult Bald Eagles(including one adult bird consuming prey atop a large,isolated snag as several of us watched the King Eider)
1 Northern Harrier
50 Black Turnstones
4 Sanderlings
120+ Dunlin



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com