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Duck...Duck...
GOOSE!
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
I admit I'm a wee bit of a songbird snob. I always found ID'ing waterfowl to be tedious. Besides, I tend to get waay too distracted birding on beaches, because I am always turning over rocks finding crabs or sorting through various beach flotsam and jetsam. You should see my sea glass and crab carapace collection! In addition, these birds don't sing and their vocalizations sound more like indigestion than song.
But winter = waterfowl, so this year, I decided that I was going to get to know some shorebirds a little better. In this effort, I did all the normal things one does to become acquainted with their neighbors. I started watching them through binoculars, acting casually if "caught." I started imitating the sounds they make and googled them in attempts to learn more about their diet, breeding behavior and associates.
Fits the (Roman) bill
You know that birds have beaks, but scoters have Beaks with a capital B. Large, bulbous and in the males, even brightly colored- it's one of the easiest field marks. Oh, if you're wondering what-in-the-quack is a scoter, then have no fear. It's a diving sea duck. Except they don't quack. A roving, bobbing gang of surf scoters sounds quite lovely I learned after listening to them talk. They make a high pitched woo-woo sound.
Listen to a surf scoter.
The first time I ever saw a scoter at all was when I lived on an island off the coast of Florida. At our nature center we would often get called to rescue stranded beach wildlife. Usually it was a pelican entangled in fishing line or a derelict net. We would run straight on, tackle the pelican and then transport it to a bird rehab sanctuary. Tackling a pelican is as comical as it sounds! One day we picked up a black duck which ended up being a Black Scoter. It was easy to identify as it was a male with a bright orange knob at the base of the bill. This one seemed exhausted and talked like a Yankee, so we deduced it was swept way down south in a winter storm. Sometimes birds (and Yankees) get off track like that.
Surf scoters, are aka "skunk-headed coots." And what is a coot? Well, this is where it gets just plain silly. A coot is another type of duck (we have American Coots in Washington). Here is an American Coot (Fulica americana) with some cootlings. Baby coots are really coot, don't ya think?
I see lots of White winged scoters bobbin' around on the Puget Sound too. They look like surf scoters, except they have white wing patches. 
Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) aka: skunkheaded coot, skunkhead or groggle-nose
Can be seen: Bobbing along in the waves of the Sound, foraging and woo-woo'ing in large flocks in winter
Eating: Mollusks and crustaceans from the Puget Sound floor or from man-made structures like pilings or docks.
Neat trick: They dive to retrieve their prey.
Mel...I need a fusca!
White-winged scoter (Melanitta fusca)Looks like: A surf scoter, but with white wing bars.
Sounds like:
Listen to a White Winged Scoter.
Neat trick: juggling
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
A Canada goose can be a majestic animal. That is, until the honker opens it's beak.
Here are some facts sure to give you goose bumps!
-The correct term is "Canada Goose" or "Canada Geese" never, ever "Canadian Geese." This isn't toh-may-toh or toh-mah-toh territory. Wow 'em with latin if you're feeling sassy: Branta canadensis
-The oldest wild Canada Goose lived to be 30 years old
-Are there more geese today than 50 years ago? You betcha. Our love of lawns, golf courses and sports fields has helped geese populations along. We want our turf poop free, but why do we keep cultivating such tasty goose gathering places?
-2.6 million geese are hunted annually, but this does not seem to be affecting their population numbers.
-Resident geese do not know how to migrate
And lastly your challenge: When you see geese flying in a "V" formation...do you ever notice how one side of the "V" is longer than the other? Why?
