{"id":7381,"date":"2020-02-01T09:33:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T17:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/?page_id=7381"},"modified":"2020-02-01T09:33:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T17:33:23","slug":"2019-05","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2019-05\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 &#8211; 3 Surf Scoter"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"900\" class=\"wp-image-7423\" src=\"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter-1024x900.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter-1024x900.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter-300x264.jpg 300w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter-768x675.jpg 768w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter-560x492.jpg 560w, https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-3-Surf-Scoter.jpg 1168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Imagine, if you will, a glance in the morning mirror and you\u2019re greeted with this face. It\u2019s bad enough as you really is, but this guy is truly remarkable, don\u2019t you think? Surf scoters (sounds like \u2018boaters\u2019) are large birds, bill tip to tail almost 24\u201d and one of three scoters here in the Salish Sea during the winter. I often see the three together, congregating on shallow bays where they dive for shellfish. Both genders are black, the male has one or two white head patches, female has dull whitish coloration on her face. If you study that large bill, it\u2019s easy to understand how nature has evolved here. While scoters feed on herring smolt and other foods, they are really shellfish specialists \u2013 and that bill certainly could crack a clam, couldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\r\n<p>By early spring, surf scoters are off to their northern nesting grounds near freshwater lakes and wetlands in the Arctic. Here they build hidden nest depressions on the ground that are lined with down and usually produce about seven eggs. Lots of eggs often means high mortality, fewer eggs mean successful reproduction &#8211; and this is about in the middle. However, the female abandons her chicks before they can even fly, so I guess this proves they do okay. After breeding, males gather along the coast for feather molts when they grow a fresh set of clothes \u2013 and then head south to visit us again. Scoters went through a large population decline last century, probably due to pollution and hunting, but populations now appear stable. Consider the distances these birds travel when you enjoy them here.<\/p>\r\n<p>***previous*** &#8212; ***next***<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine, if you will, a glance in the morning mirror and you\u2019re greeted with this face. It\u2019s bad enough as you really is, but this guy is truly remarkable, don\u2019t you think? Surf scoters (sounds like \u2018boaters\u2019) are large birds, bill tip to tail almost 24\u201d and one of three scoters here in the Salish &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2019-05\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">2019 &#8211; 3 Surf Scoter<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7423,"parent":6453,"menu_order":39,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7381","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8678,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7381\/revisions\/8678"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}