The Slate Blue Duck

Harlequin Duck

We had to eat lunch first because we were ravenous, and the cafe, Packer's Oyster Bar, was packed with other ravenous people.  The place bustled with swishing, rushing waitstaff and the glancing eyes of those seated waiting.  I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich with peppered green-apple slices, fig and brie grilled to a crisp, and Dave the Crab Croissant.  Outside the wide expanse of windows, dark blobs of gray duck bobbed on the chop 

We trekked along the sandy Semiahmoo waterside trail in search of the Harlequin Duck, a duck so named from the Latin word meaning colorful costumed actor.  It really stands out among the many gray ducks and dull gulls at Semiahmoo; they all dip and dive in the constantly rolling gray waves of Drayton Harbor.  Harlequins make a very unducklike sound--they squeak, like a sea mouse.

A surprising May sun warmed the golden spires of dune grass, and the mounds of white oyster and clam shells pushed into berms by the waves.  We played horseshoes in the open pit outside Packer's.  No time or sentry censored us; we had to be sure, only, not to clock our Butterscotch Corgi in the head with the heavy, steel horseshoes.

 https://www.semiahmoo.com/packers-bar-grill.php