Dear Tweeters,

Today at Lake Erie (south of Anacortes in Skagit County) there was an Aythya duck that I would call a Tufted Duck female. I saw nothing on it to indicate its being a hybrid, although it would be good if some experts (or photographers) could check this bird out and "pronounce it good."

I was trying to ID some scaup out there; there was a flock of about ten scaup. I noticed one dull-plumaged Aythya in the flock that lacked the white mark around the base of the bill. A moment later, the bird turned its head, revealing a goodly crest. It was not the long crest of an adult male TUDU, nor was it the stubby little tuft that this species sometimes sports. I'd call it a goodly tuft, about an inch long, certainly not a mere suggestion of a tuft.

The head, breast and back were dark brown, almost chocolate. The flanks were a dull brownish color, paler than the breast and back. The bill was bluish-grey. I could not make out the bill markings very well, but I thought that there was one part of the bill that was a paler blue. Size and shape were close to that of the scaup. The bird seemed to follow three male scaup around, while another male seemed to have the attentions of the other female-plumaged scaup in this little flock.

Unfortunately, after I had observed the bird for about three minutes (at about ten after three in the afternoon, in decent light, at under 200 meters range with a scope), something alarmed the birds. Some crows in the hills around the lake started cawing excitedly. The scaup all adopted tense postures, and a moment later, the whole little Aythya flock took off for the distant part of the lake. I could tell when they flew that one of the male scaups was a Greater, with its long white wing patch, but I lost the Tufted in the confusion, and the other scaups remained unidentified.

A few minutes later, I noticed a river otter swimming in the spot where the Aythya flock had been. It was chewing on a fish. Perhaps this was what panicked the ducks, although I have not seen ducks act nervously around otters before.

Also out there on Lake Erie were good numbers of Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, and Ring-necked Duck, along with a pair of Gadwall, a few Common Mergansers, and a Pied-billed Grebe.

To reach Lake Erie (ours, not the Great Lake!), take SR 20 from Anacortes toward Whidbey Island. Turn right at Lake Campbell (just before the road bends left by a motel on the left). Continue on Campbell Lake Road until you reach a three-way fork with a little old-fashioned store. Take the left fork onto Rosario Road. Watch carefully on the right for a tiny pullout with a locked gate. You need a WDFW parking permit. Walk over the dadburned gate (which the dadburned wildlife department has inexplicably kept locked for several years now), and down to a little gravel area. Scan from here. This is a good spot to search for Redheads and Canvasbacks, by the way, which were not in evidence today.

Earlier today in a downpour, the American Tree Sparrow cooperated for me at the Game Range. It popped up out on the outer dike trail where two benches offer a view of a channel and sluicegate. The ATSP was with a junco flock, not with a Zonotrichia flock.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?