Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 10:29:04 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Greg Miller Subject: aack! No Tufted Duck at Pax (2/10) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Howdy All! It is with great disappointment (and even MORE embarrassment) that I must announce that my "possible" Tufted Duck is nothing more than a Lesser Scaup. Nope. Not even a hybrid. Ha! And I had said some riffraff about worst case scenario being a hybrid. Argh. So there. I am now fully deflated after the albatross episode... Patty Craig and I refound the bird today at Goose Bay around noon. It didn't take long for my "possible" to fall apart. First thing I looked at--the bill. Definitely a scaup bill. Aack. Things are fading fast. Next item--head shape. No ruffled feathers today on the crown. Head is not round, but the shape of a Lesser Scaup. Yikes. Hard a glimmer of hope now. I look at the dark back--my first clue to possible Tufted Duck yesterday. What do I see today? Several back feathers tipped with pale gray. Oops. The back was darker near the tail and was less dark near the neck. Gadzooks! It's a Lesser Scaup! What an error! (and I'm not even on a rocking boat!) Some story about a boy and "Wolf! Wolf!" come to mind. I'll think I'll find a deep hole and go back to hibernating... -some guy who's name I can't remember from some insignificant town in the middle of nowhere __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================