tweeters,

Kas Dumroese and Dave Holick found the Black Duck Saturday morning (see
below). As I mentioned earlier this bird was seen quite close to the WA/ID
state line and I understand from Kas that while they were observing it
yesterday they believe it did move across the state line into Washington.
As far as we know there are no duck breeders in the valley but I'll do some
research into this possibility. Otherwise it appears to be a wild bird (no
feather wear, bands, etc.) and also not a hybrid. If somebody from the WA
bird committee is interested in this please contact me and I'll forward
the documentation.

Thanks, Charles.

>X-Authentication-Warning: harrier.csrv.uidaho.edu: Processed from queue
/var/spool/mqueue.majordomo
>Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 16:26:04 -0800
>From: dave holick <daveholick at moscow.com>
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en]C-NECCK (Win95; I)
>To: inland-NW-birders at uidaho.edu
>Subject: Re: Black Duck in Lewiston
>Sender: owner-inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu
>Reply-To: dave holick <daveholick at moscow.com>
>
>
>
>Kas Dumroese and I found and feel confident that we have confirmed the
>identification of the Amer. Black Duck that Charles Swift has been reporting.
>After carefully working the levy pond very early this morning and not finding
>the duck, we went to the location Charles discusses in his message.
Initially
>it flew off the water between the island and the road. Kas picked it out in
>flight and was sure it just went to the river side of the island and landed.
>We later located the Black Duck on the river and viewed it for several
minutes,
>with binos and a Kowa scope, under partially overcast skies. Several
times we
>moved down river to keep up with the ducks and each time we very relocated
this
>very dark duck, quickly picking out of the Mallards and Wigeons that it is
>mingling with. The bird does not seem to have a mate, as most of the
Mallards
>seem to be pairing up at this time. Our observation ended when the duck
along
>with several Mallards flew up river and out of sight. It displayed the white
>underwings with no white outlining of the Speculum. Top of head, down to the
>eye was very dark. Lower part of head was gray. The dark cap coloration
>continued down the back of the duck's neck. We were able to compare the bill
>coloration with that of a Mallard Drake. The Black Duck's bill, while
light in
>color, was grayer or greener than the Mallard's.
>
>We also saw the Eurasian Wigeon, Rock Wren, and W. Grebes mentioned by
>Charles. We add to those sightings, Say's Phoebe and about eight
>Double-crested Cormorants as good birds at this same location. Good job,
>Charles, and thanks for being persistent and sharing. Hopefully we can get
>this one added to the state records.
>
>Dave Holick
>Moscow, Idaho
>daveholick at moscow.com
>

Charles E. Swift
Moscow, Idaho
charless at umich.edu