Five-Scoter Bonanza!

I had missed out when a British first turned up in Aberlady Bay a while ago: I assumed it was a subspecies, for a start, and then it vanished within a couple of days. So, when reports came through of another (or more likely, the same) bird came through, in the northern (rather than southern) section of the Forth, at Largo Bay, I started to take an interest. But even better, there were another 4 species of the same genus on view; and this might be the first time I had been able to connect with all 5 in the same area. On 29th April, I felt compelled to go. The drive was actually shorter than I anticipated, a little over 2.5 hours, and I arrived just before midday. I had a good idea where to go, but there was only one birder in the pub carpark overlooking the pier (where I needed to be) who was walking away from the scene, and this didn’t bode well. But a quick chat confirmed that the bird was still showing, and he was on his way to the better viewing point. I parked up, walked with him and soon we arrived at the ‘viewing platform’ where about 6 others had gathered staring through scopes. They were watching the bird in question, to my relief, but I then struggled to find it myself; reference points were few and far between, and even the gentle breeze at 70x magnification made viewing difficult. Eventually, after a great deal of switching between mine and others’ scopes, moments of panic and frustration, I latched onto the mega: my first ever Stejneger’s Scoter. It was hard work staying on the bird because of its active nature and the choppy sea, but I could clearly see the salient points, albeit intermittently. The key feature was the bill profile and the noticeable knob/bump on the lower part of it. This, combined with the more extensive black on the bill (and by extension, the lack of colour) made the bird stand out against the Velvet Scoters, with which it associated. The white ‘Nike tick’ above the eye also seemed more prominent. Keen as I was to keep watching this once-in-a-lifetime bird, I was also desperate to see the other four species on show – in order to get the full set. To our left, we had the next rarest, and it wasn’t long before I was on this bird too: my second ever White-winged Scoter – complete with huge ‘Nike tick’ and dull red/pink bill tip. I felt a sense of relief at this point, having ticked off the two hardest scoters, but felt compelled to see the third in the rankings. This required a (mere) five-minute walk to the east. And sure enough, there it was, again without requiring too much of an effort: Surf Scoter (accompanied by a female). This has always been one of my favourite birds, one with which I was very familiar. (I recalled with fondness my many hours spent watching this species in St Andrew’s Bay just up the road during my days as a student there.) The final species to complete the set was the commonest, but oddly, this took the most effort, largely because it wasn’t until the end of my visit that I realised that the majority of more distant birds were in fact this species: Common Scoter. Hallelujah! All five scoter species in the same bay! (Black Scoter was the only one missing, but I’m not sure that’s been recorded here, and its usual haunt, Northumberland, was now too far even for me.) Anyway, having ticked off the four hardest scoter species, I spent the next few hours going back over old ground and trying to relocate the rarities; I got onto a second White-winged (!) with the assistance of another birder, and at the very end of the day managed to get back onto the Stejneger’s after it had gone AWOL for much of the afternoon.

This time I got some (admittedly, very poor) record shots (here, with Velvet Scoter); at least you can see the diagnostic features, including the obvious protrusion towards the tip on the upper mandible, the flatter/more ‘Roman-nose’ profile, compared to White-winged, and the reduced patch of colour at the tip. As though this weren’t enough, there were other birds on the sea worthy of note, namely two Red-necked Grebes (in summer plumage), Red-throated Diver (at least 10), Long-tailed Duck (1), Red-breasted Merganser (numerous), Gannet, Razorbill, Guillemot and Common Eider. (There was even a King Eider (!) in the same bay, but at the far end, and by the time I’d finished with the scoters, time was not on my side.) Needless to say, I came away rather satisfied with my haul. Just a shame the scoters weren’t just a little closer…