I managed to squeeze seeing the TUFTED DUCK into a busy schedule today. Here is my eBird description.
Met Chris Wood and Jeff Gehrbracht, who found it, in parking lot. Because of travel the day before, I forgot my tripod. Jeff kindly lent me his horribly defective one. Met up with Patrick Tanner who relocated the bird offshore, sleeping on the ice. First Basin record, although overdue (I think this was one of my predictions for next Basin bird in The Cup over a decade ago). Spectacular find by Chris and Jeff. A difficult bird, much less obvious than the 2 males I saw before in NY. Apparent female, or perhaps first-year male (can't find images of SY male). Brownish Aythya duck with paler sides, dark back matching chest and rear. Sitting on ice beside much larger Mallard male. No real tuft, but it had a large bulge at 10 o'clock on the head in profile (cf. the 11 o'clock bump of Ring-necked Duck), and a flat top of the head. Profile distinctive. Because I couldn't get my scope properly attached to Jeff's crappy tripod (and the rain), I didn't get adequate, relaxed looks at the bird beyond the identification minimum. However, from photos I thought I saw a hint of a white patch or line at the base of the bill and a shadow of a pale band behind the tip of the bill. No suggestion of eyering as on female Ring-necked Duck. It stood up, showing a pale belly, then took flight, revealing a whitish belly contrasting with dark sides that appeared the same color (more or less) as the chest and rear. The wings appeared smooth gray below, not nearly the bright white suggested in Sibley guide. From above it showed a very white base to the secondaries, contrasting with pale, but grayer primary bases, much like a Lesser Scaup. The white in the secondaries was much more apparent than the pale gray in the wings of a female Ring-necked Duck. Photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zT5UdS4c1LOQ8pykKEplX9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink and following. Kevin -- 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/ --
