There was an article in today's Seattle Times about possibly toxic algae
killing 2 species of scoters (including surf scoters) on several
Washington beaches.



Janis Weltzin

425-482-4106

________________________________

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Rebecca
Laszlo
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 2:51 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Cc: Rebecca Laszlo
Subject: [Tweeters] Why do Surf Scoters come onto the WA beach?



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

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