Waterfowl On The Coast Of Biddeford, ME

 My family went to Saco, Maine for the weekend of December 10th to 11th. While there, I tried to plan a stop on our second day (on Sunday), to a beach in Biddeford, where my grandpa had been 3 times, and found snowy owls on 2 of the times. We arrived at the beach, and started down the trail. The cold wind stung my face, and waves were pounding against the rocky shore...

This light colored rock, on a section of beach near the entrance fooled me, and I took plenty of photos, thinking it was a snowy owl...

I walked for about a half mile, along the coast and then after not finding anything decided to cut through a golf course, to get back to the main beach. I noticed several birds floating in the water. the one closest to me was a female common eider, bobbing up and down in the waves...

about a hundred feet down the beach from that was a juvenile common loon. Juveniles are much paler, and lack the signature white spots and red eye of the adult loons. Their top priority is camouflage. While this was an exciting find, it was hard to photograph because the waves were tall, and occasionally blocked my view of it. The loon was also diving frequently, meaning I had to keep re-finding it. This is my first time seeing a loon in salt water.

My moment with the loon was interrupted when I noticed 3 black birds in a group, flapping fast and low along the horizon. I now know that these were white winged scoters. This is my first time seeing this species...

The three birds passed over a rocky island that was a roosting area for another group of at least 5 scoters, with another much lighter bird. It's probably a gull, but it does look a little bit like a snowy owl in my opinion. I doubt an owl would be that tolerant of the scoters, but I have zero experience watching snowy owls, so I'm not sure. 

I was sick of the freezing ocean wind, so I went back to the car. We started heading down the road, and were about to turn down the road that leaves the beach. I noticed 2 more figured floating in the water. One of them was brightly colored, and the other was brown. We pulled over, and rolled down the window for a few photos. They were a mated pair of red-breasted mergansers. Also a species I saw for the first time that day. (female on the right, male on the left.)