White-winged Scoter

The Pacific Northwest is living up to its soggy reputation. On 9 January I took advantage of a foggy break in the deluge to try to add White-winged Scoter to my 2020 birdlist. Success—I finally photographed a white-winged White-winged Scoter! I was confused by this bird’s plumage. It lacked the tear-drop eye stripe of the male scoters I previously found. But the bird also lacks the white head spots I expected on a female. I suspect this bird is a first-winter male, as illustrated in the Sibley bird guide. (As I write this link, this book is almost 30% off at Amazon.)