Subject: [Tweeters] Tufted Duck and Harlan's Hawk
Date: Apr 3 10:21:35 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Steve and others,

Yes,we can agree greatly that our 2 photos of the Tufted Duck that we posted on our website don't do the bird justice,especially with the lack of a solid black back. We however have a good excuse including the distance and the lighting during our observation of the bird on the 1st of April. In our spotting scope the Tufted Duck's back was obviously solid black and the sides were immaculate white,as well as the bird having a full tuft. We viewed the bird at approximately 90 yards and the bird never came closer,but we took distant photos of it anyways since noone had pubically posted their photos of the bird before yesterday.The bird was NOT on the corporate pond at the Weyerhaeuser headquarters,but on a nearby private lake so overall conditions weren't the best. We're pleased that good photos of the bird were taken for documentation and we only took our photos for proof.

Sincerely,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan

----- Original Message -----
From: SGMlod at aol.com
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2006 9:19 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Tufted Duck and Harlan's Hawk


Greetings All

I was enjoying the impressive photographs on the Sullivan's website and have a query and a comment.

In the photos, the Tufted Duck seems to have a nice long tuft, but the back does not appear to be black. This could easily be an artifact of lighting conditions, but I would be pleased to hear from an observer that there was no gray or gray vermiculations on the back. Sorry to pester.

Also, I'd like to point out that the extensive barring on the flanks and red on the tail make the Buteo labelled as a light-morph Harlan's unlikely to be a "pure" individual of that taxon. It certainly has some Harlan's characters and is probably an intergrade between harlani and calurus.

Best Wishes
Steven Mlodinow
Everett WA


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