I may go to Port Townsend to see Harlequin Ducks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see lots of other birds while birding.
During the winter you can count on seeing a flock of Brant
at the end of the spit at Ft. Flagler.
Sometimes while trying to photograph Harlequins you get distracted by nearby birds like this Long-Tailed Duck,
a bird I’ve only seen three times in all the years I’ve birded. In fact I spent nearly seven years looking for one of these before I saw a small flock while crossing Puget Sound on a Ferry.
Luckily, female Red-Breasted Mergansers
are much more common, but still a good find.
But the male Red-Breasted Merganser provides an even better photo-op.