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Scoter, Scoters, and more Scoters

I decided to take a weekend trip to see I could get some new year birds.  I 
started out at the Antelope Island Causeway late Friday afternoon where I 
was able to observe a Surf Scoter.  I had a hard time deciding whether it 
was a juvenile or a female, because the pictures showing the two white 
patches on the side of the head in the National Geographic and Sibley?s show 
them so differently.  It was definitely a Surf Scoter, not a White-winged 
Scoter, because the patch near the base of the bill was definitely verticle 
rather than rounded.  It was around mile marker 1 on the north side of the 
causeway.

The next morning I visited Mantua Reservoir where there were two adult male 
Black Scoters.  I enjoyed looking at them for about twenty minutes, with 
that huge yellow/orange knob on the bill.  I was also able to observe the 
wing-exercising illustrated in the Sibley guide.  They were close enough to 
get a good picture with my telephoto lens, but by the time I came back from 
my car with my camera, a fisherman had come by and pushed them further to 
the center of the reservoir.

My next stop was Hyrum Reservoir.  I saw a scoter on the far side of the 
reservoir.  I could see the two white patches on the head, which seemed to 
be the shape of a White-winged Scoter, but I couldn?t see any white patch on 
the wing.  As I continued to look at it, a gunshot went off from a duck 
hunter, scaring the scoter.  It took off, and sure enough it was a 
White-winged Scoter.  This one was on the end of the reservoir opposite the 
dam.  I eventually saw another one half way down from the dam.

Three for three in about sixteen hours!

The rest of my weekend was nice but quiet.  Nothing really unusual, but some 
that are noteworthy were a couple dozen Bonaparte?s Gulls at Willard Bay and 
an adult Bald Eagle on the shore of Mantua Reservoir (my first of the 
season).  I enjoyed watching ducks just as much as anything, since they are 
identifiable again.  I just hope they survive duck hunting season.

- -Larene Wyss

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