A male Steller's Eider was found on the NE corner of the Olympic peninsula
in December 1986. I arrived on Dec. 6, and spent the day searching around
Ft. Worden St Pk. No luck. I camped in my truck overnight and searched
again the next day. On Dec 7, I finally found the bird with Harlequin Ducks
on the north side of the point, facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was
my first Steller's Eider.
Shortly after that I was hired as a Foreign Fishery Observer and trained by
NOAA in Seattle. I was assigned to monitor a Soviet fishing vessel in the
Bering Sea. On Jan. 30, 1987, I landed at Dutch Harbor, AK. A big ridge
protects the bay there. In the bay sits a small island shaped like a
high-topped shoe. It has a high mountain at one end and a low toe at the
other. The airport is across this toe. Planes have to come over the ridge,
drop down to the bay, get their wheels down on the start of the runway and
BRAKE to stop short of running off into the Bering Sea on the other end of
the runway. The passengers applaud when the plane stops. As we turned to
taxi back to the terminal I looked out the window at the rocky shore and saw
a whole flock of STELLER'S EIDERS.
My Steller's Eider tally in Dutch Harbor, Jan 30 - Feb 5, 1987, was 70 - 285
birds. On my return from the sea, Apr 18, I saw only 18 birds.
My next deployment to Dutch Harbor, Feb 9 -10, 1988, I saw 125 -300
Steller's Eiders. On my return from the sea, Mar 21 - 23, I saw 150 - 229
birds.
Good birding,
Paul Sullivan
