white-winged scoter

On the coast of Island.

All the twitchers were out on the bridge over to that island. A White-winged scoter had been spotted there, a rarity hereabouts. The water was so choppy in the wind, and the scoters were so far from the bridge, that it was shere luck I got this shot of him. Velvet scoter further back, with a...

first capture of a mature female White-winged Scoter.

These birds have an exotic appearance with their white eye 'shadow' and wing bars against a deep black with that flash of red on their bill. I see that they take a long time maintaining that look.

Black Scoters were fairly common off the Aomori coastline so when I fist saw this, I thought that is what is was. Upon closer look, the white eye line was seen and I had my first White-Winged Scoter. I apologize for the poor quality of the photo but with the camera I had, it was the best I could...

Hamilton Ontario, Canada Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR 1/1000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso250 www.raymondbarlow.com

Melanitta deglandi off Imperial Beach Pier, Imperial Beach, CA, 01-21-07, Canon 20D 400/f5.6L. http://www.picturetrail.com/marysan

A rare bird here in Southern California. Melanitta deglandi off Imperial Beach Pier, Imperial Beach, CA, 01-21-07, Canon 20D 400/f5.6L. http://www.picturetrail.com/marysan

Since we were way up on the dock-thing and the scoter was way down at the water, it was easy to see it swimming underwater! Pretty cool.

This guy was swimming and diving right by the "dock".

These birds overwinter here in the Vancouver region. I think in Europe they call them Velvet Scoter.

The female looked as if she was talking to the male Scoter.