Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 19:24:39 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Tom Stock Subject: Re: Tufted Duck AND Ring-Necked MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Peter Vankevich wrote: >>>>Went down at lunch to Haines Point today Wed. Feb. 16 and did see both the Tufted Duck and a male Ring-necked in with the many scaup and dozen-plus Canvasbacks. We viewed them agains the wall of Ft. McNair with a 30x scope. The Tufted Duck was identified by the black back and feather(s) coming out of the middle of its head while resting. The Ring-necked had a clear crescent sparating the black breast and very dark back. Three other birders present, Gene DeAnna, Bob Stock and, I believe, Dave Cohen all noted the same diagnostics. >>>>> Actually, it's Tom Stock, but who am I to care with a new North American lifer under my belt!!! (Years ago, I saw lots of Tufted Ducks in England, but none were as sweet as this sighting...) The Tufted Duck was very easy to pick out, and thanks to Peter and Gene for finding the Ring-necked Duck, which provided a wonderful comparative study. I went down to the Point on my lunch hour via cab (I'm a Metro commuter), but without my scope. Luckily, Dave and I ran into Peter and Gene, who had a scope. Thanks, you guys! I seriously doubt I would have found the Tufted Duck just using binoculars. And thanks for the ride back to the Ellipse, too. Tom Stock Silver Spring ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================