Today the weather and visibility through the scope were as good as can be. Sharp, clear detail was visible on birds that were hundreds of feet out in the river and by late morning the temperature was enough that I didn’t bother returning to the parking lot at one of my stops to retrieve my forgotten gloves. The mild weather may be why there still have not been any reports of Purple Sandpiper and why the Green-winged Teals and Lesser Scaup like this molting male are incredibly still lingering in the ponds at the park. The ponds haven't even frozen over yet!
 
The beginning of December also finally brought a Surf Scoter into view in my scope. Today I had another great view of a Surf Scoter along with a decent number of Common Goldeneye, a small number of Bufflehead, a single Long-tailed Duck, and a few hundred Canada Geese. At one point all of the Canada Geese near the shore took off in unison, causing us all to turn our attention to the skies to search for possible predators. Sure enough, a mature Bald Eagle was flying over. Recently I also had three Common Loon, one possible Red-throated Loon (opinions about the bird's id were mixed), a great look at a Cackling Goose in flight, and my second Evening Grosbeak sighting in less than two weeks.