La Jolla Cove, July 28: White-winged Scoter

I spent 45 minutes at the Cove in late morning today.
Calm ocean; gray, overcast skies.

About 150 black-vented shearwaters and 1 sooty shearwater.
4 black storm-petrels.

A big surprise at about 11:15 was an adult male white-winged scoter flying south about 100 feet above the water.
A large, all-black duck with white secondaries.
I don’t know of any July records for white-winged scoter in San Diego County [although the Atlas lists 2 rare summer stragglers in June].
And I don’t have access to data from other counties to know if there are summer records for this species elsewhere in California, especially southern California.

Still have not seen a single baleen whale from the Cove these past 4 months.

Stan Walens, San Diego
July 28, 2020; 12:50 pm
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports