Monday afternoon (3/14) the black scoters appeared to be at the same location off ?Sunset Ave., just beyond the northern-most floats that mark the underwater dive park. ??Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA

From: Joshua Glant <josh.n.glant at gmail.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2016 9:30 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Edmonds Black Scoter Parade

Hello Tweets,

Yesterday morning I stopped by Sunset Avenue in Edmonds to try and finally see a bird I've been longing for all winter - black scoters! Though the weather forecast called for rain, I was determined to look for my lifer.

When I got to Edmonds, I realized that the forecast was happily mistaken: the clouds were scattering and the sun was coming out. I soon realized, however, that my wispy blue sky also came with some incredible wind! The water was quite interesting to watch as the surface shimmered and shifted in the buffeting gale.

After scanning the water for 15 minutes, my scope landed on a black duck at the far edge of the "buoy" area. I did an ecstatic double take when I saw that its bill had a yellow knob! I soon spotted a brown-cheeked female near the male. Slowly the numbers grew, and after an hour of watching, there were 9 birds - 6 males and 3 females. For a while they floated in one tight cluster, diving and coming up in loose tandem and sometimes chasing each other over the choppy waves.
Checking eBird, it's the highest count of black scoters in Edmonds since November 15, with 10 birds being seen that day.?
My checklist for the visit is here:http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28128543
And my video of all the black scoters in one little flock:https://www.flickr.com/photos/132642556 at N03/25110385024/in/dateposted-friend/
Fun times as always when I'm out enjoying nature, especially of the feathered kind!
Good birding, Joshua Glant
Mercer Island, WA
Josh(dot)n(dot)glant(at)gmail(dot)com




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