Feeling restless after a birding-less weekend, I couldn't resist the  
posting
	by Jim Brighton anent his seabird watch at OC Inlet (with Tom,  
Geraldine,
	and Bill -- thank you all)
	
	  I had to go and try today.


	eiders were on the far side of the South Jetty -- near shore around
		12:30, but they'd moved out to the point (apparently with the
		falling tide) by 4:00.       They were seen readily from near the
		Oceanic Motel.
		 I saw seven -- could this be the same seven reported flying over
		Cape Henlopen on Oct. 30?

	white-winged scoters -- 3 among many different skeins.

	harlequin duck finally showed up around 2:45  -- landing inside the
		Inlet by the South Jetty, about half-way between the large
		flat-topped bulge and the point,
		
	jaeger (probably "Light Adult nonbreeding" parasitic)
		-- this was a thrill.

		I'd been scanning for possible jaegers  for nearly two hours &
		was ready  to give up when, very far out, I saw a dark bird flying
		-- it reminded of Pete Dunne's description of a merlin: "its wing
		 beat is so powerful it reminds you of a Harley" -- but too far off  
to call.

		 I resolved to watch as long as I could and thought I might have seen
		 a white patch of an underwing -- maybe, but . . . no way.

		At that moment it turned, flying right toward the Inlet, probably
		toward a patch of rough water where gannets had been diving
		all day -- about twice as far out as the green buoy positioned
		off the mouth of the inlet, perhaps 400 yards away.

		When it arrived, it banked north and flew along the shore
		giving me, with the late afternoon sun over my shoulder, a great
		look at its brown upper parts & wings, the white under-wing patches,
		its white belly with some cinnamon mottling just under the wings
		and the cap.   There did not seem to be a stripe across the upper
		breast.


	"Patience is a virtue is its own reward,"
	they say (I think that's how it goes)
	and it was today.