Sea duck that is native to Northern Europe turns up off California coast

Common Scoter.

Bird watchers from across the country traveled to the Crescent City Harbor for the first North American sighting of the Common Scoter on Wednesday.

The Common Scoter is a sea duck that is native to Northern Europe. The rare North American Common Scoter sighting not only brought out local bird watchers, but bird watchers from North Carolina.

"This is very important for me; it's pretty much all I live for," Keith Camburn, a bird watcher who traveled from North Carolina, said.

Harbor Master, Charlie Helms of the Crescent City Harbor District, said the Common Scoter sighting brought a crowd he's never seen at the harbor.

"There must have been twenty people out here this morning just looking at the bird and willing to share their knowledge, I never thought about birds being an attraction for people visiting the harbor."

Local bird watcher, Gary Bloomfield, said he not only came to see the Common Scoter, but to admire the sea duck for its unexpected journey to North America and the North Coast.

"To be able to see something new and appreciate what it took to get a bird from Europe to find its way over to the west coast of North America, it's pretty amazing," Bloomfield said.

Bird watchers at the harbor said they do not know how long the Common Scoter will stay in the Crescent City Harbor, but they are just happy to have had the chance to see the sea duck in person.

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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