Escape from New York


Kurt Russell would be proud.

On New Year's Day, Ian Worley and Ron Payne discovered a COMMON POCHARD on the Vermont side of southern Lake Champlain, later ID'd by Jeremiah Trimble thanks to the wonder of digital photography.

I made the trip north on Sunday January 6th with Phil Rusch and Greg Hanisek. After a few hours of searching by several dozen birders, the duck was relocated on the NY side. We arrived to very nice views of the bird sleeping, every now and then picking its head up for a quick look before re-tucking. Tick! Everyone on site was thrilled, and many birders had already departed feeling very content with their views of this mega rarity.

Not so fast.

Birders down the line from us noticed a band on the bird's right leg as it began to dive and take short flights. A rumor had been spreading during the morning's search that the bird was banded, based on the previous days' observations. We had hoped this was untrue. Chris Wood was able to get some really nice photos clearly showing a metal band on its right leg. I could not help but laugh; something about dozens of birders from far and wide assembled to view...a pet.

Research into the matter has revealed that a drake Common Pochard, reportedly with an identical metal band on its right leg, was lost from an aviary in New York state. Nail in the coffin.

Despite the bad news the road trip was a lot of fun. Great company, got to catch up with some old acquaintances, and the waterfowl show was simply stellar. Throw in a few Rough-legged Hawks and some bear sausage for breakfast and you have a winning day.

 - Nick

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warblers in Flight: A Photographic Collection

While active migration has always been my favorite bird behavior to observe, my interest in the phenomenon called “morning flight” of nocturnal migrants had been minimal due to the unfortunate reality that I lived well over an hour’s drive from the nearest known reliable observation site, Bluff Point State Park in Groton, CT. In autumn 2020, thanks to improved public access to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, I began to explore the northern tip of Willard’s Island as a morning flight viewpoint and was pleased to find that under the right conditions a reliable flight could be observed there. The volume of birds passing through is not large (a small fraction of what passes through Bluff Point), but the flight line is consistent and can be observed under good lighting conditions. Between autumns 2020-22 I visited the site 20 times in total and recorded 27 warbler species in morning flight. All but a few of these have been photographed, often poorly! I immediately found mysel
Read more

Last winter's gull review

Today's cooler, blustery conditions combined with the appearance of an Ivory Gull in Cape May got me thinking more about the upcoming gull season and reflecting on last year's. The 2008-09 gulling in the northeast was pretty damn good and included a few really exciting birds. The season started out with a bang exactly one year ago today with CT's first Slaty-backed Gull . On 12/12 an adult Thayer's Gull put in a brief appearance at the Windsor-Bloomfield Landfill, CT's premier gull hotspot, followed by a first-winter bird on 12/23. A Black-headed Gull spent the winter in New Haven Harbor. Perhaps 'gull of the year' was a subadult Glaucous-winged Gull in Rochester, NH, found by Scott Young...a first record for New England. Meanwhile Gloucester, MA was once again the gull capital of New England. I happened to already be up in Boston when news of an adult Ivory Gull broke on 1/17. I still get chills thinking about that weekend. Of course there were plenty
Read more

Iceland in April

Image
April is an exciting time for the nature enthusiast to visit Iceland. While the weather can still be quite cold and snowy, winter's grip is loosening and signs of spring abound. Several minutes of daylight are gained each day, but there is still enough nighttime darkness to observe the aurora borealis through at least mid-month. It turns out that early spring is also an excellent time for whale watching, particularly if you are keen to find Orcas. Spring migrants are beginning to arrive, including flocks of European Golden Plovers and the first Atlantic Puffins of the year. Given all that, it made sense to consider a long weekend visit to Iceland in mid-April, especially since it is a direct 5-6 hour flight from the northeast USA. Known appropriately as an expensive destination to visit, costs can be considerably reduced by hiring a campervan. Being a super popular mode of transport + lodging in Iceland, there are plenty of companies to choose from. During this shoulder season, I r
Read more