I'll echo Dave's observations. My impressions of this distant Scoter were long, low, heavy bodied bird. The head shape not as upright and rounded and the white wing patch more of a horizontal stripe than vertical. Kevin's good photos will keep me on higher alert this week, if she lasts that long.
Gary On Jan 5, 2013, at 10:45 PM, <nutter.d...@me.com<mailto:nutter.d...@me.com>> wrote: The bird which I counted as a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER at East Shore Park today was initially on the water far to the northwest. Bob McGuire had been watching it and thought that's what it was, although I was initially unsatisfied with the view. About 9am it flew much farther north low over the lake showing a very dark (black) body and wings except each wing showed a prominent long rectangular white patch in the trailing edge in the secondaries. The bird was shaped and flew like a robust duck, not a coot nor a grebe (other local birds with some non-rectangular white in the trailing edge of the secondaries), and the white patches were the right shape and size for a White-winged Scoter, not a Gadwall. I did not see the injured Lesser Scaup. --Dave Nutter On Jan 05, 2013, at 04:47 PM, "Kevin J. McGowan" <k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu>> wrote: I stopped at East Shore Park today in hopes of seeing the reported White-winged Scoter. Instead, I found a lone female Lesser Scaup with a fishing lure in her mouth and apparently fishing line wrapped around her wing exposing the white at the bases of her secondaries. I have put a few photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/KevinJ.McGowan/Winter20122013#5830074707828587666 and the following images. I don’t know if this is the same bird that has been reported as a White-winged Scoter, but I wouldn’t be surprised. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
