Sea Duck galore - Day 4

Kittiwakes 

Possible Baltic Gull

Surf Scoter

Surf Scoter among Velvets/Common flock

Slavonian Grebes

Part of Eider flock

Purple Sandpiper and Knot

Purple Sandpiper & Turnstone

Another fantastic café stop

Sea watching out on to the bay

At the close of the previous day I'd had a quick check on Rare Bird Alert to see if anything else was reported locally and I almost fell off my chair when I saw a King Eider and Surf Scoter had been spotted ! Alan, as always, was already planning the journey so I didn’t need any second alarm call to get me up and ready the following morning.

Sea watching can be a lot of fun but you do need to expect to get wet and only have distant views. However neither of these two applied to this Highland experience. As soon as we arrived in Burghead we were treated to some fantastic views of Long-tailed Duck, Eiders and Scoter. There was also a huge flock of Kittiwakes with a possible candidate for a Baltic Gull. A flock of Knot also swooped through and landed on the beach.  To be able to watch a flock of mainly male Long-tailed Ducks fly past in off the sea was brilliant.

We couldn’t locate either of our target birds so we drove a couple of miles to a sheltered woodland spot which looked straight on to the calm water of the bay allowing simply amazing views of the various sea ducks. This spot allowed us to look at these sea ducks in detail I’d not seen before and we quickly picked up a flock of Velvet and Common Scoters. On the edge of the group was a fantastic looking Surf Scoter ! Get in ! Just brilliant to see one of these birds but to see it so clearly was a very special treat. Alan said in all his years birding he had never seen one so close. Peter then located the Immature King Eider on the other side of the flock. Being an immature bird he wasn’t as eye-catching as you would expect looking at the Collins guide but a great bird to see all the same. Numerous Slavonian Grebes were on view allowing once again lifetime best views.

After a superb session we headed back into Burghead to watch from the other side of the harbour. As soon as we were off the mini-bus we found a Purple Sandpiper, 2 Knot and numerous Turnstones. Off shore hundreds of Gannets passed by with a Pomarine Skua.

Needless to say it was then another superb lunch stop in another of Ruth’s hidden gem cafes. A top class morning.