New Year's Day birding

After Susan and I quietly (for the first time in many years) celebrated New Year's Eve together, I got up at 6:00 and drove down to the Cape and did a little birding, taking my first pictures for 2019.
I am going to keep one select photo of as many species as I can this year, and every time I get a better shot, replace it.  I am going  to aim for a 500 species photos for the year.    Hmmmm….
So here is the first 7!

Harbor seal at Manomet

Red-breasted Merganser

First bird photo for 2019

This will be "keeper" No. 1

And here you can see he has swallowed the whole fish

(see the lump in the throat)

Black Scoter

(A "keeper" for now, hopefully a better photo later in the year)

White-winged Scoters 

(Keeper for now)

Common Loon 

(for now)

Common Eider

(This is pretty good, that green is so hard to capture)

Common Eider, with immature male.

I spent over an hour driving up and down the canal, hoping to see

a King  Eider amongst the thousands of Common. 

No luck so far. 

Common Eider, female

Another female

I think the female is quite beautiful

Great Black-backed Gull

for now

Herring Gull

for now

Barge on the Canal

So that is the first seven for the photo record. 

Every time I go out I will try to get better shots, and get new species.