January 1st. Donna Reservoir. We’re looking for two special birds. We found the Long-tailed Duck and took a bunch of pictures. Once we were done with that, we started looking for the Surf Scoter, but he was nowhere to be found. We looked at every Scaup. There were hundreds to sort through. There were a few Shovelers and Canvasbacks, but mostly Scaup. No luck.
We didn’t really need the Surf Scoter. Getting the Long-tailed Duck was enough reward for one day’s effort. We went on our way. We birded some more at other places. We went home. We had dinner. I wrote the trip report. I sent out pictures of the Long-tailed Duck.
I got a phone call from Jon. He said “Did you see that duck right behind your Long-tailed Duck?” I told him not to get excited. The duck in the background had caught my eye before I sent out the pictures. I had zoomed in a little and saw that it was a Scaup with its head turned, right in front of a Canvasback. Jon suggested I look again. The duck behind the duck behind the Long-tailed Duck in the middle of the picture? That’s not a Canvasback. That’s the Surf Scoter we couldn’t find!
See the orange bill? That’s him. Hiding in plain sight!
This birding can be really hard (and occasionally embarrassing).
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