This is to confirm Rick Asamoto's sighting of seven Surf Scoters this
morning.  Rick called Larry Gara about 0930 to report that he was looking
at Surf Scoters off the beach at Caesar Creek State Park.  Larry called me
and the chase was on.  We arrived at the beach at about 1030, luckily
between waves of Sunday morning dog walkers.  The scoters were there,
perhaps 25 meters offshore.  There were seven birds, of which one was a
fully fledged adult male in alternate plumage  with the exception of the
forehead patch.   The particolored beak was clearly evident.  The other
birds appeared to be females or juveniles molting out of first winter
plumage.

The female/immature birds displayed considerable variation from bird to
bird.  All of them showed two patches, one behind the eye and one between
the eye and the bill.  On several of the birds, the marked near the eye
looked suspiciously as if it might be turning into the "comma" mark of the
White-winged Scoter.  We made a concerted effort to find evidence of a
white wing patch, to no avail.  The birds were avidly foraging, but we
never saw the wing extended.

As for us, I was persuaded by the comparison with the obvious adult male
Surf Scoter.  All of the birds were in a tightly packed flock, making
comparison easy.  All of the birds were very similar in conformation.  In
particular, the bills were all similar.  The only notable exception was
that the bills of the female/immature birds was dark gray, as opposed to
the gaudy colors of the adult male.  The bill of the White-winged Scoter is
structurally quite different with its "ski jump" profile.  We're going with
seven Surf Scoters.

Cheers,

Bob

--
Robert D Powell
Congress Farm Research Institute
Wilmington, OH, USA
[log in to unmask]
http://rdp1710.wordpress.com

Nulla dies sine aves

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