White-winged and Surf Scoters. Photo by Ted Keyel.

White-winged and Surf Scoters, May 19, 2016. Photo by Ted Keyel.

After many days of north winds, a break in the weather a few days ago gave us a big push of migrating waterbirds,  most notably scoters. On May 19, there were 254 White-winged Scoters counted during the morning, almost all before 10 a.m. There were also four Surf Scoters seen early that morning. The last three hours of the 8-hour count tallied no scoters, but Ted and Sara and I returned for a few hours in the evening and witnessed a really impressive flight. Between us we saw 354 White-winged Scoters, 4 Surf Scoters, and 1 Black Scoter. Most of these flew along the bay shore and around the tip, sometimes so close to shore we could hear  them calling!

May 20 was almost as good, with 181 White-winged Scoters in the morning, and 219 White-winged and 2 Black Scoters in the evening.