Yesterday I birded Semiahmoo Spit and Samish Island Park, partly in search
of the Long-tailed Duck, a potential lifer. Conditions were "challenging",
and included snow, sleet, hail, driving rain, and wind sufficient to topple
a tripod-mounted scope. Drying and defogging equipment was a continuous
effort. At Semiahmoo, ignoring gulls and cormorants, I noted Scaup
(Greater would be my best guess) Red-breasted Merganser, Bufflehead, Horned
Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Common Loon, Pacific Loon, and Red-throated Loon,
Northern Pintail, Common Goldeneye, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter and
White-winged Scoter. Oddly, the Pacific Loons seemed to be in a long (30
birds) single file procession heading from outside the spit through the gap
toward the inside. I have not seen any loons before other than singles or
pairs, so this strikes me as unusual. On the way out I photographed an
adult bald Eagle munching on the remains of a White-winged Scoter. Two
immature Bald Eagles were seen on the same stretch of the spit.



At Samish Island were Barrow's Goldeneye, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon,
and a probable Long-tailed Duck. The latter was at the outer range of my
scope and did not stay visible long enough to give an unambiguous
identification.



Marvin S Hoekstra

marvin.hoekstra at frontier.com