Hi all,

One other possible source of this American Black Duck, is the introduced population on central Vancouver Island. Although hybridization with Mallards has greatly reduced the number of "pure" birds in the last few years, they do still exist, and occasionally wander.

who knows,

Guy L. Monty
Parksville, BC
----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth Sullivan
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:38 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Am.Black Duck continues at Juanita Beach


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I relocated the American Black Duck at Juanita Beach Park in Kirkland previously reported yesterday by Aaron Martin onto Tweeters,in which today the bird was observed actively and heavily grazing on grass within the park. It associated closely with up to 4 Mallards and 1 domestic-type duck,but was clearly a nice bird to see as we also obtained photographs whether the bird may be an escapee,a remnant of the Everett STP population,or a true vagrant. We watched the Am.Black Duck from 10am-11am along with scoping the offshore waters from Juanita Beach Park. At times we kept slight ideas of the possibility of bird being a hybrid with Mallard,but that was soon left aside due to the lack of any green coloration on the head or rusty tones on the upper breasts going by all photographs/drawing illustrations we have seen of hybrid and do know they do occur.The bird appeared to be a female due to the rather dull yellowish bill and the contrast between head and neck coloration to overall body color didn't seem as crisp as a male would possibly be,but there could be some variation. We also noted some whitish edges on portions of the back feathers that may possibly appear from worn plumage. The obvious purplish-violet speculum was extremely brilliant completely surrounded by the dark brown plumage of the body and we were unable to view any indication of any thin white edging bordering the speculum,which may be non-existent Near the end of our observations the bird was flushed by a stray,unleashed dog,where it flew to the shore of Juanita Bay(Lake Washington)and clearly showed the very striking white underwings that seemed especially apparent due to the contrast from the dark brown body. We did not run into any birders during our visit,but perhaps more people will check this bird out in upcoming day whatever it's origin.

During our visit to Juanita Beach Park we noted a few additional species of note along with a short visit to nearby Juanita Bay Park included the following:

1 Red-throated Loon
1 Common Loon
2 Western Grebes
4 Wood Ducks
23 Canvasbacks
1 Common Goldeneye
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
6 Wilson's Snipes
1 Western Gull(amongst several Glaucous-winged,California,Ring-billed and Mew Gulls)
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler


On our way home we decided to check a few additional locations,despite increased rain activity including a visit made to Gene Coulon Park and Cedar River Park in Renton and a stop made at and near the Green River Natural Resource Area(aka "old" Kent Ponds)in Kent. Highlights from these locations include the following:

Eared Grebe
1 at Gene Coulon Park

Western/Clark's Grebe intergrade
1 at Gene Coulon Park(with 3 Western Grebes)

Western Grebe
45 at Cedar River Park

Greater White-fronted Goose
18 at Gene Coulon Park

Eurasian Wigeon
1 male at the Green River NRA

Redhead
1 lingering male at the Boeing"settling ponds"(as recently reported by Kathy Andrich and Charlie Wright)

Common Goldeneye
1 pair at Cedar River Park

Ruddy Duck
17 at Cedar River Park

Northern Harrier
1 at the Green River NRA

Cooper's Hawk
1 adult at the Green River NRA

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at the Green River NRA

Black-bellied Plover
2 flying over the Green River NRA

Herring Gull
3 at Gene Coulon Park
2 at Cedar River Park

Thayer's Gull
3 at Cedar River Park

Northern Shrike
1 adult at the Green River NRA

Lincoln's Sparrow
6 at the Green River NRA


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net
















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