Do those who've seen the bird St John's Pond think this is same individual that was in nearby Huntington Harbor? I've not yet studies photos of the bird at the new site and was curious. Both sets of sightings involve what I assume is a 1st-winter male and are only a mile or two apart by the overland route. The new freshwater location of a picturesque pond is more appropriate for Tufties, which in Europe are more likely to be found on fresh than salt water, much like Lesser Scaup. I guess vagrants associate with whatever they feel the greatest affinity for, which on occasion is Greater Scaup, a species favoring more salty water. Hence a good number of NYS Tufted Duck records have been from brackish or marine habitat such as Huntington Harbor.
It's also interesting to ponder the change in status of Tufted Duck. Not too many years ago, the species occurred with sufficient regularity on Long Island and neighboring counties to not warrant NYSARC review. This has clearly changed, with far fewer records from coastal New York (now less than annual) and seemingly increased regularity upstate, especially Lake Champlain. I have no idea why this change has occurred. Is it simply that a few returning birds stopped doing so, or is there some other more subtle change in our waterfowl or waterfowl habitat? Are the larger lakes staying unfrozen longer than in the past? Please don't forget to submit reports to NYSARC on this duck(s) as well as other recent rarities (Western Grebes, Gyrfalcon, etc). Information on how to do this can be found here: http://nybirds.org/NYSARC/goodreport.htm With a list of review species here: http://nybirds.org/NYSARC/NYSARClist.htm -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
