Subject: [Tweeters] Rare Bird found in Aragon!
Date: Thu Feb 28 22:30:59 PST 2019
From: Vicki Biltz - vickibiltz at gmail.com

We were lurking about a large marshy pond the day before yesterday. Got
great looks at the Bearded Reedling, very few photos of anything for the
birds are so far away this time of year. We were scoping out the tufted
ducks, when an 'Odd Duck' showed up in water with the Tufted Ducks...
A male Ring Necked Duck! I think Steve said its never been recorded
there, and being a vagrant who will never make it home, its sad, he will
not have anyone to show off his breeding plumage to.
There are not very many reports of this bird in spain, since its a North
American Species.
Another super unusual sighting AND behavior, was the flock of 40 or more
Ruffs, SWIMMING in the pond, and feeding, having no trouble getting
whatever they were after. Donna, the new birder, is actually the one who
saw them and asked if Shorebirds swam. We thought about the Phalaropes,
and that was how they were acting, but NO! RUFFS! And a lot of them.
We have three days in the Seville area, before our trip is over. Kenya has
been cancelled do to a family emergency, (not mine)....So we will try to
hit Kenya another time.
Too bad, so sad.😞.
So I'll be organizing my list on the plane, and trying to validate the
general areas these were found, and then send a complete list when I get
home. Since my son is still visiting from Florida, we will get to make the
best of my scheduled free time and head to eastern WA. I will not have to
miss the first meeting for our local Audubon Board, which also makes me
very happy!
Full Report coming, hopefully with photos on flickr.
Most photos are not good, as they were very shy, and great distances away,
but at least they are mostly identifiable....
Happy Birding!
Vicki Biltz
Buckley WA, currently in Seville Spain.
vickibiltz at gmail.com



vickibiltz at gmail.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saw-whets_new/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20190301/ad0773e6/attachment.html>