This should be of interest to NY birders: The following report is in response to a photo of a "Redhead" taken on the Vermont side of the Champlain Bridge in Vermont. The lake is narrow at this location and the bird might be seen in either Vermont or New York:
Start thread: I just got this email from Jeremiah Trimble who ID'ed Ian and Ron's red-headed duck as a Common Pochard. Allan -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Common Pochard at Champlain Bridge Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 14:28:55 -0500 From: Jeremiah Trimble <jtrim...@oeb.harvard.edu> To: Kent McFarland <kmcfarl...@vtecostudies.org> CC: Allan Strong <astr...@uvm.edu>, Chris Rimmer <crim...@vtecostudies.org> Hi all, Happy New Year! I need to follow up on the storm-petrel specimen but in an immediate matter, a redhead was reported today on Vermont birds along with a Redhead. The "Redhead" in the image is a Common Pochard! I'm not sure how to get the word out better than email you guys!! Good luck, Jeremiah -----Original Message----- From: Vermont Birds [mailto:vtb...@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Kaye Danforth Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2013 3:07 PM To: vtb...@list.uvm.edu Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Tufted Duck, Glaucous Gull and Redhead, Champlain Bridge I'm sitting here closely comparing Ron's picture of the Redhead and a photo of a common Pochard in the same viewing position, and it sure looks like the head-shape is identical to that of a pochard- a Redhead's being more rounded. Of course, I'm birding vicariously, but can't contain my excitement it could be one! Kaye Hinesburg On Jan 1, 2013, at 1:25 PM, Ronald Payne wrote: > This morning I took a pre-planned New Year's Day trip to the Champlain > Bridge in Addison had an added impetus with Ian Worley's sighting of a > Harlequin Duck yesterday. I never did find the Harlequin, but I got > different Life Bird almost right away when I spotted an immature > Glaucous Gull on a flow of ice south of the bridge. Its white > primaries really stood out, and it was alongside a Great Black-backed > Gull when I first saw it to give it scale. Not long after this, two > Red foxes came out onto the ice and approached some ducks along the > ice, which just casually swam away from them. > The foxes then disappeared into shrub along the shore. At this point I > got busy counting the many Lesser and greater Scaup, Goldeneye, > Mallards, Black Ducks and Mergansers in the area, a task that was > rather unpleasant given the stiff cold breeze. Around this time Ian > Worley arrived and he was excited to hear about the Glaucous Gull, as > he had never seen one before. After a few minutes of searching from > the top of the bridge, he suggested we move below it to get out of the > wind, an extremely good idea! From beneath the bridge we searched the > mixed flock on the northwest end, I picked out a White- winged Scoter > and a female Barrow's Goldeneye, and Ian spotted a beautiful adult > male Redhead. Ian decided to go to a different position so he could > search for the Glaucous, but I quickly called him back when I saw that > one of the Scaup had a tuft on the back of its head, and was in fact > an adult male Tufted Duck, a life bird for him. As we looked at this > bird we spotted an adult male Barrow's Goldeneye, and a female > Redhead. Later Ian did find the Glaucous, so at the time I left to go > defrost myself, I had a one life-bird day and Ian had a two life-bird > day. > > Full checklist with blurry digiscoped pictures: > http://ebird.org/ebird/vt/view/checklist?subID=S12435936 > > Happy New Year's birding, everyone! > > -- > Ron Payne > Middlebury, VT -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
