Tweeters,

I note the Bufflehead observers looked at the photos last Friday night had
2nd-thoughts about the report of nesting of this species at the Fort Simcoe
wastewater lagoons (west of Toppenish in Yakima County). They (Jan Gano and
Richard Repp) checked out the "big" Sibley and concluded the birds were
adult Buffleheads. I submitted the following to Doug Schoenewald, keeper of
eastern WA bird records:

Doug,

I've just looked up measurements in Waterfowl (Madge and Burns) and see a
more marked size difference in males versus females in Buffleheads than I
have heretofore appreciated:

Male wing: 169-179
Female wing: 151-161
Male tarsus: 31-35
Female tarsus: 28-31
Male bill: 27-31
Female bill: 23-27
Male weight: 448
Female weight: 325

These differences, especially weight, easily account for the size
differences noted in the photo.

So, I think the observers retracting this report and calling the birds in
the photo a first year male and 5 adult females seems more plausible than a
hen with nearly-grown ducklings.

Andy [Stepniewski]
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net