Birding at Port Orchard

Often in the winter birding is better at the Port Orchard Marina than at Theler Wetlands, but that wasn’t the case on our last visit; they seemed equally bad, except for the brilliant sunshine.

I did spot my first male Hooded Merganser of the season, but it seemed determined not to see me and swam steadily away from the camera, never turning back to see if I was still trying to capture a shot.

Hundreds of birds were offshore, barely visible with the human eye, though I wasn’t able to spot a single Goldeneye.

The marina itself was remarkably quiet with the exception of a small flock of Surf Scoters feeding on mussels, 

and a single Horned Grebe.

Eventually, those ducks offshore will have to come closer to feed, probably when the sun hides behind the clouds.