Sharon and I visited Ocean Shores on Dec. 6th. We found both the Emperor Goose and the King Eider.

The goose was visible from our vehicle when we parked at the golf course driving range, easily distinquished from nearby Canada and Cackling geese. It would have been seen by anyone with mobility impairments without much bother.

The eider was a little more difficult. It was within a couple of hundred feet from shore. We had to drive to the south end of the Damon Pt. Rd. (now discontinuous by beach erosion). Sharon wheeled to the very end of the short strip of pavement and glass west the scoter flock about 200 yards west of that point. Fortunately, the eider's almost russet hue is much different than any of the scoters and that makes it easy to distiguish, particularly in good light.

Both of these species can be hard to get to, particularly to the north where they are most common so it is nice to find them from a good vantage point.

On another subject, there was a juv. White-throated Sparrow near Sun Meadows in Sequim this morning at a local feeder. A Snow Bunting was seen and photographed at Marlyn Nelson CP on Nov. 28. The redhead is still where originally seen near that park a few days ago.

Good birding,
Bruce Paige
spruceak at yahoo.com
Sequim