Wednesday I was walking between Second Beach and Kalaloch Beach up on the Olympic peninsula, and there were scores of SURF SCOTERS up on the beach, either alone or in groups of 2 or 3 birds. It was as if they were resting about 10 feet up from the waves. They didn't seem to be preening their feathers. They did have to hiss gulls away from them, as the gulls kept harassing them. Most were unwilling to remain when I walked past them, and would run/waddle/lunge back into the ocean as I tried to walk quietly by. In a 2 mile stretch of beach I would guess there were at least 40 of these birds. There seemed to be an even selection of males and females, and judging by their plumage they were of varying ages.

I was under the impression scoters stay mostly offshore. I've never seen them resting on the sand before. The Sibley's behavioral book didn't seem to mention this behavior. Does anyone know why they were beaching themselves in this season?

Rebecca Laszlo
Seattle WA
Rebecca.laszlo at microsoft.com