Hi Tweeters -
With the pelagic weathered out, I opted to head east for the weekend ? ?Scoter Quest 2016!? ?
I made it to Spokane in early afternoon, and after a good bit of peering from different angles, was able to find 2 SURF SCOTERS on the Pre-Mix Ponds where Jon I reported them. The scoters were hanging out with a group of Bufflehead, in the southwest corner of the ?pond? - best views were from the north edges.

I headed next to Liberty Lake County Park in search of the recently reported Swamp Sparrow. While I waited at the marsh viewing platform through a shower, my playback brought in an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW of the fall. Eventually, the showers subsided and a nice juvie SWAMP SPARROW came in for good looks.

Moving on to Diamond Lake in Pend Oreille County, I arrived w/ some daylight left and was happy to find the scoter show still in full swing, as Terry Little reported a couple of days ago - I counted over 15 SURF SCOTERS, but there could easily have still been the 20+ Terry reported - lots of diving going on. In addition, I had at least one WHITE-WINGED SCOTER show up. And best of all, a LONG-TAILED DUCK cruised by!

Onwards to Stevens & Ferry tomorrow to try for more Scoter goodness?

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA