Heya Tweeters,

I spent the morning at the fill today. I didn't encounter any other
birders out in the rain, but did find plenty of birds. The Tufted Duck
reported by Connie Sidles was in Union Bay, south-southwest of the very
southeastern peninsula at 8:00am. By 10:00am our Eurasian visitor had
moved about half-way across the water toward the football stadium. For
those who haven't seen this bird before, I was informed that it is much
easier to pick a TUDU out of a group of Ring-Necked Ducks and or Scaup
species by looking for a bird with crisp white flanks and a black back.
This was quite helpful and a lot easier than looking for a bird with a
tiny tuft that is only visible some of the time! The TUDU was diving
frequently, and I assume it was feeding. This brings me to a question:

The Sibley guide notes that Scaup eat clams, and at least one person on
this listserv has mentioned observing this TUDU eating mussels. My
non-birder girlfriend asked me how these ducks that feed on crustaceans
separate the food from the shell. I had no idea. Does anyone know how
this happens?

The Barrow's Goldeneye was on the Ravenna Creek outlet, as reported
previously. Overall, 46 species for the morning. Isn't The Fill a great
place? I put the duck locations on a google map, which is here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217121004330310273982.0004b8926b0bf5b84095e&msa=0&ll=47.656369,-122.290492&spn=0.009901,0.022724

Cheers,
~Joe Meredith
Seattle
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20120209/7012454e/attachment.htm