Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 11:03:12 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Arlene Ripley Subject: Tufted Duck (yes!) Wednesday 2/16 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed I arrived at Haines Pt. at 9:10 this morning and scoped the flock of ducks along the seawall at Fort McNair. Within five minutes I was on the Tufted Duck -- the tuft could easily be seen by cranking up the zoom lens on the Kowa a little. I couldn't believe how incredibly easy it was to find this morning after the frustrations of yesterday. No other birders were present at Haines Pt. during the short time I was there. I next drove over to Fort McNair, parked and walked along the seawall, camera in hand. As I approached the flock, a few joggers went by, and they all took flight down river. Fortunately they circled around and landed right back in the water where I was now standing. The very handsome Tufted Duck was right in front of me and I took photos in what I hope will be perfect light. The bird was only 10-20 yards off of the seawall. The number of ducks in this flock is approximately 200, consisting mainly of Lesser Scaup and a few Canvasbacks. The male Ring-necked Duck, so prominent in the flock yesterday, was not seen this morning (naturally). I'm glad, after three tries, I got this bird. I am feeling slightly guilty at using a whole tank of gas in the process. ////// Arlene Ripley | || Calvert County, MD | 0 || aripley@nestbox.com | || http://www.nestbox.com || ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================