White-winged Scoter - Mellanita Fusca
Being alive to the possibilities and the detail is always a good idea when you are birding. On my 6 am session this morning I came across a raft of sea ducks. The first few blow ups showed me quite categorically that I had stumbled across a Pacific bird the Surf Scoter (clink on the link to review and pay attention to the bill and wing colour and then navigate back here).
So nothing prevents sea ducks from hanging out in mixed flocks just in the same way that ducks on a lake would mingle So the bill here is just orange and black with no white. We have a distinctive tear shaped white mark behind the eye and a white secondaries visible. Compare to the Surf Scoter which does not have white wing panel and therefore would need show a white wing bar when not in flight.
Two ducks for the price of one.
Torfino, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
2 August 2014
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