Around 10:00 in the morning on Monday, the 19th, I got a call from Jason who told me about a bird that was seen along the causeway that crosses Pymatuning Reservoir in western PA. There were four photos on an eBird checklist labeled "White-winged Scoter" that were actually photos of a Common Eider! Since it's a sea duck normally found in the northern Atlantic Ocean, there had only been two previously-accepted records of it in Pennsylvania, neither of them documented with a photo. The reservoir is basically split in two by the Pennsylvania/Ohio border, so the western half of the causeway is in Ohio and the eastern half is in Pennsylvania. One problem is that the photos were taken on the Ohio side of the border. The other problem was Pymatuning Reservoir was 5-1/2 hours away. I was totally unprepared for such a journey. It was going to take me a while to get ready, which meant that I wouldn't get there until pretty close to sunset. Jason was pretty much ready to go, so he said he was heading up there, hoping that it might swim over into our state. I decided that the odds were pretty poor that I would get there with enough light to look for it, so I reluctantly stayed home.
Late in the day, I got a text from Jason stating that the bird had swam over into Pennsylvania waters. Around 7:00 PM, I talked to him and found out that he was going to stay there overnight and try to get some better photos of it in the morning. He said it was just off the Espyville Marina when it got too dark to see anymore. I told him that I would be there at first light.
After getting very little sleep, I left just before 1:00 AM and started the 5-1/2 hour drive to the spot. I made pretty good time and ended up getting there about a half-hour before dawn. Instead of going to the marina, I decided to park at the bridge on the causeway. It would end up being a good move. I called Jason, who was positioned at the marina, and we obviously agreed to call each other the minute one of us saw it. As it got light enough to see, I started scanning the area by the marina, which was on the north side of the causeway. I saw numbers of gulls and a few small groups of ducks, but the eider wasn't there. I could see Jason and several other birders also scanning the area from the jetty by the marina. After pretty thoroughly scanning that side, I decided to start scanning the south side. Ross Gallardy drove up, asked me if I had seen it, and briefly searched the area with me. He told me that he was going to drive over to the Ohio side and scope that area. I decided to stay where I was since I could see both sides of the Pennsylvania waters from there.
Very soon after Ross left, I spotted a dark bird with my binoculars through the limbs of a bare tree very close to the causeway and halfway between me and the state's border. I quickly got my scope on it. It swam out from behind the branches and, when the bird turned its head towards me, I could see the large, light-colored beak on it. It was the eider! I quickly called Jason and told him I had the bird in view. He called Ross and everyone swarmed in and got pretty good looks at a Common Eider in Pennsylvania! Since there had never been a photo-documented record of this species in the state, I concentrated on getting the best photos I could as the bird moved a little farther away. These are the best ones I got.
Another interesting thing was that this bird appeared to be of the West Arctic subspecies "v-nigrum", which is even more surprising than if it would have been the eastern subspecies "dresseri." The bird continued to stay just far enough away that I couldn't improve on what photos I already had. Then, Jason told me about a Common Shelduck that had been found in Lebanon County at the landfill and that he was going to try for it on the way back home. He told me that it had been seen on a public pond but was also being seen more often nearby in a private area with several other ponds. He said that Ross was working on trying to get access to the private ponds and would let him know if and when he knew more. He told me he'd call me if he heard anything from Ross. Because I had gotten very little sleep and knew I had a long drive back, I decided to leave at around 10:00 and headed home.
Right as I was passing the Milesburg exit of I-80, which is about halfway across the state, my phone rang. It was Jason. He said Ross had called him and had attained permission to the private ponds and was on his way there. It was very good timing because I was coming up on the exit that I would need to take that would be the most direct route to the site. I put in the coordinates and headed there. After about two more hours, I got to the landfill. A few other birders were there looking at the Common Shelduck in one of the ponds when I pulled up. It was with several Mallards. The big question was whether the bird was a wild bird or an escaped bird from a private collection somewhere nearby. I took many photos with that in mind. There were no bands on either of its legs and both hind toes with nails were present. Many bird collectors clip the hind toes and also the flight feathers on their birds.
The bird was very skittish and was the first to fly when it felt threatened. I got these flight photos of it showing the normal-looking flight feathers, another point towards the bird being wild.
I drove the remaining 1-1/2 hours and got home around 5:00 PM. The trip entailed 741 miles, but it was well worth the effort. It's interesting that both of these birds had the word "Common" in their name, but they are far from it. They are only common where they are 'normally' common----the eider in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Shelduck from the Old World area. It was amazing to see both of these birds in one day.
