Spent a wonderful day of birding Vantage with my daughter. Looked through scaup flocks again hoping for tufted duck, especially with two being seen a few miles south at Priest Rapids Dam in last couple of weeks. No luck. Did manage some very nice birds anyhow. With scaup just north of the dam (within the buoy lines) were 4 white-winged scoters. They were all female/immature type. One seemed to fit adult female more while the others fit immatures, but this late in the year aging is tough. About a half mile below Wanapum Dam were three red-breasted merganser. A high count of this unusual species on the Columbia. They all were female/immature type. This matches my high count in Kittitas County for this species. There were also two Pacific loon in the tailrace of Wanapum Dam. Sierra managed six new birds for her list (would have been seven but the only redheads we saw were females, too difficult for her to identify just yet).

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA