ML25193601

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

*MEGA* mid-sized diving duck with jet black back, gleaming snowy white sides, and long tuft on back of head. First found sleeping with head tucked near the western shore of the bay while I was scoping from the apartments at the end of Seneca Rd. After I got Matt Hafner on it to confirm ID, it started to drift to the east and woke up. Eventually started actively diving with the scaup flock and made its way over to Tydings Island only to start working its way back towards the CANV mega flock to the south. Hafner notes: Very distant, but clearly identifiable. When the sun was behind clouds (most of time I was viewing), it was easy to find, follow, and see details. Similar in size to nearby Lesser Scaup, but tended to ride low in the water. Wind kept it's tuft plastered down much of the time giving the bird an odd head shape that appeared especially flat on top. When the tuft was visible, it extended from the back of the crown, nearly to the back. Occasionally the tuft would be pushed upwards giving a Tufted Titmouse-like crest. Much longer than presumed 1st-cycle male seen at Swan Creek in 2014. Back was fully black with no signs of gray or vermiculations. Sides were gleaming white and the most noticeable field mark at this distance. It was too distant to see bill details. I personally viewed the bird off and on from about 1055ish to 1140. In that time it mostly drifted east and began actively feeding as it got farther away from our viewing spot. Hard to estimate how far away it was, but it was several hundred yards and digiscopes were the only hope for documentation. The digiscopes clearly show a plain black back and white sides. The videos provide glimpses of the tuft moving around in the wind. Videos best viewed at full screen, bird seen center-left. Tufted Duck video 2 from Matt Hafner on Vimeo. Tufted Duck video 3 from Matt Hafner on Vimeo.

Technical information

Dimensions

518 pixels x 427 pixels

Original file size

20.34 KB