Just to stir the pot on this one, I’ll point out that (1) Red-crested Pochard is a migratory species in Europe and a regular vagrant to Great Britain, (2) This past couple of months we have seen a large influx of European vagrants in northeastern North America (N. Lapwings, an immature Common Shelduck, even a Eurasian Blackbird), and (3) I remember in the 1960s when Tufted Ducks in the U.S. were thought to be escapes (before there were enough records to establish a pattern of natural occurrence).
I would speculate that the chances of a female Red-crested Pochard in a flock of wild and highly mobile Redhead being an “escape” from captivity is close to zero. Ken Ken Rosenberg (he/him/his) Applied Conservation Scientist, Retired Cornell Lab of Ornithology k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu> Cell: 607-342-4594 From: bounce-127060114-3493...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-127060114-3493...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of Kevin J. McGowan <k...@cornell.edu> Date: Friday, December 30, 2022 at 5:56 PM To: Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@mac.com>, Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu> Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: RE: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Pochard? The identity of the bird on Cayuga Lake is unquestioned; it was a female Red-crested Pochard. It’s a subtle, but diagnostic ID (congrats to Nick Sly for picking it out and identifying it). However, there are no accepted records of this species as being wild in North America. It does not appear on the AOS or ABA checklists for North American Birds. Kevin From: bounce-127060071-3493...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-127060071-3493...@list.cornell.edu> On Behalf Of Dave Nutter Sent: Friday, December 30, 2022 3:50 PM To: Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu> Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Pochard? Hi Laura & All, If you look at the eBird range map for Red-crested Pochard, it’s pink across most of Europe and Asia, meaning it’s native there. In the UK, however, it’s yellow, meaning the species is introduced. In the US, there are only a few scattered yellow rectangles, and if you click the option to “exclude escapes” then the US goes blank, but the UK stays solid yellow. In other words, the introduced Red-crested Pochards have become a naturalized self-sustaining population, but in the US there’s no reason to believe the few isolated birds arrived here on their own or are self-sustaining. Male Red-crested Pochards are quite showy, so it’s a popular bird among fanciers, and that’s the presumed source. As far as eBird is concerned, seeing this species in the US gets treated the same as the pet Budgie that you saw fly out of your neighbor’s window and added to your yard list. It doesn’t show up on rare bird alerts. Perhaps because the East Shore sightings are so new, as of this afternoon they did not even cause a yellow rectangle to appear. I had to engage the “show points sooner” option, and zoom way in for these reports to show up. I don’t know whether or how they get reviewed, but a bunch of us are recorded as seeing it. For comparison, there are more rectangles in the US for Tufted Duck, and they are all pink, so they are assumed to have arrived from the Old World on their own. Ring-necked Pheasant is definitely not native, and we know a local source of them is the DEC Game Farm, either as escapes or deliberate releases, yet the yellow eBird map does not change - at least when zoomed out - when the “exclude escapes” option is engaged. Northern Bobwhite is native to the US, and in NYS some of the eBird rectangles are pink (native) and some are yellow (escaped/introduced). All the yellow rectangles go blank when the “exclude escapes” option is engaged. European Goldfinch has many rectangles, all yellow, in the US, and most disappear when “exclude escapes” is engaged. But there are self-sustaining populations in NYC, from Chicago north through eastern WI, and in Detroit & Ann Arbor. - - Dave Nutter On Dec 29, 2022, at 3:51 PM, Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu<mailto:l...@cornell.edu>> wrote: Hi David, Was that red crested pochard ever confirmed? Laura Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu<mailto:l...@cornell.edu> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
