Here is some more on the Buffalo, NY Tufted Duck. The bird is very close to the New York side of the Niagara River. >From Ontario - after crossing the Peace Bridge go through the traffic light. This will put you on Baird Ave. At the end of Baird turn left on to Porter Ave. Go on Porter passed Columbus to Niagara Street and make another left. After about 3? km turn left at Robert Rich (which is opposite Ferry Street) cross the bridge, You are now on Squaw Island. Go south (upstream) to the end in walk out on the pier at you own risk. The bird was seen on the river side about 50 yards from the end of the pier. It is a long 2? km and treacherous walk ____________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: 2/18/2013 2:32:54 P.M. Eastern Standard Time Subj: [GeneseeBirds-L] Tufted Duck (female) at Bird Island Pier, Buffalo
Bill Watson and I took a walk out on Bird Island Pier (access from S. end of Squaw Island, Buffalo) this morning and as previously mentioned, a female Tufted Duck was present at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Erie amongst a large, dense raft of (mostly) Greater Scaup and Redhead adjacent to the large ice build-up of ice near the end of the fenced in, walking portion of the pier. Officially the outer 3/4 of the concrete pier is closed, but is still accessible/walkable, so access the pier at your own risk (for those interested see article here: _http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n50/week_in_review/short_walk_ (http://artvoice.com/issues/v10n50/week_in_review/short_walk) ). The bird was in with the dense rafting Aythya just offshore the end portion of the pier, and for the time we viewed it (about 15 minutes) was mostly sleeping, but then started swimming around and never fed (dove) during the observation period. As another viewing option, it may be visible from the mainland shore from Rotary Park at the West Side Rowing Club (at end of Rotary Row off of Porter Ave), but likely a walk out on the pier would be necessary. In addition to the bird's smaller size, blacker back/head, and obvious small tuft, it was also the only female Aythya present that was sporting visible white secondaries when sitting in the water (as often seen on sitting White-winged Scoter)--this should make it a bit easier when scanning for the bird, assuming the secondaries will be visible. A distant, record shot of the bird sleeping is posted here: _www.flickr.com/photos/jmpawli10_ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmpawli10) Jim Pawlicki _______________________________________________ GeneseeBirds-L mailing list - [email protected] https://mail.geneseo.edu/mailman/listinfo/geneseebirds-l -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
