Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 15:04:27 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Clive Harris Subject: Black Hills (Mo. Co.) Waterfowl, 1/11 In-Reply-To: <20040111214853.85693.qmail@web41011.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I went to Black Hills this afternoon (the morning looked too cold) to check out the waterfowl. There was a good variety of birds with the highlight being what looked to be four Richardson's Canada Geese (see below). Also present were two Tundra Swan, Redhead (I only saw a single male), Canvasback, Lesser Scaup (could not see any Greaters), Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, Common and Hooded Merganser, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard and Black Duck types (probably hybrids). After sorting through the thousands of Canadas from different vantage points I came across four very small birds, distinctly smaller than any others around them. They had small, angular heads, and stubby deep-based bills. The breasts on all of these birds was a similar colour to their quite pale backs, i.e. lacking the larger white area on the upper breast typical on the larger birds. One of them had a very narrow white half collar just below the black neck. I could not see any dark under the chin. The birds seemed a reasonable fit for Richardson's. They swam within about 100m before flying off in a group with 2 larger birds. There were a fair number of small Canada geese but all the others I looked at had longer bills and were not quite as small as these birds. Mallards mixed in with the Canadas also allowed a comparison of the size of these birds. Unfortunately by the time I found these birds the light was fading and beyond what my digital camera could cope with. Four similar birds turned up last year. Perhaps these are the same? Along with several hundred Ring-billed there were around 20 Herring Gulls. Regards Clive Harris Cabin John, Md --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================