Subject: [Tweeters] Black Duck
Date: Aug 8 10:18:52 2008
From: Ryan Merrill - rmerrill27 at gmail.com


For those who are interested the American Black Duck is still at
Juanita Bay Park today. A few other birds in a quick visit this
morning include the Am Wigeon, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, an adult Western
Gull, 2 Tree Swallows (scarce there this late in the year), and a
Warbling Vireo.

Kraig Kemper and I had a hybrid Am Black Duck in Kent back in June
when the Avocet was down there. I don't believe I posted about it at
the time.

As far as people birding Juanita goes, I'm down there fairly often and
checked the bay thoroughly several times in July with no Black Duck
seen. Through the winter and spring I would bird there at least
several days a week but never saw the ABDU after mid-Nov last fall.
It is certainly possible it spends part of the year in different areas
of the lake.

I believe the Common Eider a few years ago in Port Angeles was found
in early August.

Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA


On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 9:48 AM, . KDB . <buhrdz at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Matt and all,
> I wrote the following last night (it took 20 minutes, so I hate to just
> delete it now;o); some may or may have not been rendered moot by the post of
> Mr. Kothenbeutel:
>
> Of all things birds, one of my favorite things to do is to "over-analyze"
> and try to guess the probability of "genuine" vs. "not so genuine" vagrants.
> It's kind of like a game for me.
> Some I probably get right, some I'm absolutely sure I get wrong.
> In a similar way I think that's why the Ivory-bill work appealed to me so
> much;
> pondering whether it even really existed while at the very same time looking
> very hard for it.
> For a bird who's origins I'd been skeptical of in the past, I'd kind of been
> expecting a summer sighting of the Black Duck somewhere in the vicinity of
> the park.
> Of course this doesn't mean this bird is not a natural stray.
> It could be an early fall return or just on some altered schedule as you
> mentioned.
> We probably will never know, but I just don't have a good feeling about this
> one.
> I guess if there were a flurry of hybrids in the same area over the next few
> years, that might suggest something.
> It's just that for me personally, all things considered, at this point I'd
> just as soon wait til the next candidate before putting Black Duck on my
> state list.
> I saw one at Fir Island in Feb 1986, but figure it was from the now
> non-listable Everett group.
> Thanks,
> Keith Brady
> Olympia, WA