I think many people have heard that Jeff Gerbracht and I saw a Tufted Duck at Hog Hole, Ithaca NY today. Here are my checklist notes from eBird along with a link to my eBird checklist that includes photos and more comments. You can click the Map link in eBird if you are not familiar with Hog Hole. Hopefully careful checking of the south end of the lake tomorrow will allow others to see the bird.
eBird Checklist comments: After an extended eBird meeting that went well into lunch, Jeff Gerbracht and I decided to go down to Hog Hole to look for the Eared Grebe that Dave Nutter had seen earlier in the day. We debated whether to scan from the highway or to come to Hog Hole. Since CLW keeps a Hog Hole list, he was very interested in going to see the grebe from Hog Hole and Jeff was more than accommodating. We arrived and after a few minutes of scanning found the Eared Grebe close to shore. Little did we know at the time, but the real treat was yet to come! Being good eBirders, we wanted to do good counts of all the ducks. As Jeff was carefully counting Redheads, he came upon a very interesting duck and quickly showed me through the scope -- TUFTED DUCK! Aging/sexing is complicated, but clearly not an adult male. As of this point I believe it is likely a first-year female, but need to be a bit more work to figure out timing of eye color changes, extent of white by age and sex, and timing of molt. We managed to get some video and a few images before the rain started pouring down. WEATHER: Overcast, initially with light drizzle becoming a heavy and soaking downpour. 37F. Calm. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12764792 Best wishes, Chris Christopher Wood eBird Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://ebird.org http://birds.cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
