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English and Scientific names: |
White-winged Scoter
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Number of individuals: |
2 |
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Locality: |
Cameron |
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Specific Locality: |
Grand Bayou Quad |
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Date(s) when observed: |
01/29/2011 |
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Time(s) of day when observed: |
About 4 mi W of Rutherford
Beach community |
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Reporting observer and address: |
Paul Conover |
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Other observers
accompanying reporter who also identified the bird(s): |
Mac Myers |
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Other observers who
independently identified the bird(s) |
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Light conditions
(position of bird in relation to shade and to direction and amount of light): |
Overcast, sun low in the SW behind us made its
presence felt to some degree. Lighting
was good, although by sighting’s end it was getting dim quickly. |
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Optical equipment: |
Zeiss 10s, Nikon Fieldscope
III ED, Nikon D200 with 300mm lens (effectively 450 mm). |
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Distance to bird(s): |
Initially probably 500 yards, but we were able to
close to within perhaps 100-150, thereupon they moved out to about
200-300. |
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Duration of observation: |
Ca. 30 minutes. |
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Habitat: |
Nearshore Gulf, seen from beach. |
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Behavior of bird: |
Birds were on Gulf mixed in with large scaup
flock. When first seen, they were
diving for up to maybe 15-20 seconds at a time, then up for 2-3 seconds. As we drove up even with them, scaup
flushed and the scoters remained. At
first, the darker bird was presumed to be a WWSC while the other, with a
paler face, was of uncertain ID.
However, the white wings became visible from hundreds of yards away as
they swam so we were able to ID both quickly as WWSC. |
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Description: |
Darker bird was mainly
sooty brown, with small amount of white on face that was hard to detect. It had an orange tip to bill. I’m assuming it’s a young male. Paler bird had obvious
diffuse whitish patches on face. The
most visible patch was at the base of the bill, a broad patch that was fairly
discrete. The other patch, on the
auriculars, was broad but diffuse. It
gave the face a pale aspect like a young female Surf Scoter; I assume this
bird was a young female. Perhaps because the
birds were diving so much and rearranging their wings, their white patches
were clearly visible much of the time as diagonal slashes far back on their
sides. When birds “stood up” and
flapped, the white wing patches were clearly visible on both, extending
throughout the secondaries. |
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Voice: |
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Similar species: |
Birds with similar white wing patches: ·
Gadwall—white wing patch
not as extensive. ·
Red-breasted and Common
Merganser—bill narrow. |
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Photographs or tape
recordings obtained? |
After we got close to the birds, I tried to
videotape them with probably limited success.
As a desperate measure, I decided to take some pictures of the birds
in the gloaming at about 200+ yards where they had joined a group of
scaup. Luckily, the WWSCs started
flapping and I got wingshots. |
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Previous experience with
this species: |
Not much, really.
These birds were instructive in terms of comparison with what I know
about Surfs. I think I’m up to speed
with WWSC ID now. |
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Identification aids: |
Not yet. |
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This description is written from: |
Memory. |
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Are you positive of your
identification? If not, explain: |
Yes. |
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Date and time: |
01/30/2011 |