Female Ring-necked Duck Lee Fields 24th November 2010
Hi all,
At the moment, there is a female Ring-necked Duck along the River Lee just upstream from the Lee Fields, showing that even the least fancied of spots can, from time to time, produce quality birds. I've found a singing tristis Chiffchaff in this general area, and there are records of Great White Egret (2000) and Night Heron (1990) also.
The story behind the finding of this bird is somewhat complicated. On Sat 6th November, my brother (a lapsed birder since he was around 14, in 1994) phoned me, saying that he had seen a duck other than the typical Mallards on the Lee, and that he thought it was most likely a female Tufted Duck. It must be borne in mind that he would not have been familiar with the appearance of Ring-necked Duck, had no optics, and was reasonably distant from the bird.
On Tue 16th, I went for a walk with my mother, with no optics, out the Lee Fields, and imagine my surprise when confronted with an obvious female Ring-necked Duck! I then remembered my brother's sighting from 10 days earlier, and, when I showed him my initial record shots (taken with my Samsung NV3 alone), he felt that this was the same bird that he had seen.
A thread started on Birdforum a day or two later, with someone asking if a bird that he had photographed was a female Ring-necked Duck or a hybrid. As I type this (on 24th), he has not posted again on that thread, so it is unclear where he took the shot, or when: I assume that it was this individual, but did he see it before or after I first did, and, if so, did he see it before or after my brother presumably did...?
Anyway, let's not get bogged down in semantics, and enjoy the bird for what it is. I managed to relocate it slightly upstream of its original location today, despite there being no sign when I and others checked for it since last week. It seems a little more wary now, once flushing when two squabbling Mallards frightened it, and once when I was trying to relocate it, breaking cover from behind some trees as I realised that it was there. Interestingly, and probably helped by the close views, I was able to hear the bird call when it took off, a muffled quack (but not like that of a Mallard, say).
posted by Harry @ 6:38 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Harry, the bird was defintely seen AFTER you had seen the individual.
Shots taken on the wee pool opposite the Lee Clinic on the 18th November.
I'll point you to the BWI Facebook page where I posted the pic after making sure I had seen your bird and not some hybrid that I'm still too much of a noob to ID properly by posting on the BirdNet forum;
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44385206165#!/photo.php?pid=2007571&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=359318831642&id=1234375808
Thanks for that. I know the pool well, it's a good spot for many species which are otherwise scarce in the immediate area, such as Water Rail and Sedge Warbler.
When I saw your shots on Birdforum, I assumed it was the same individual, but, as it had gone 'missing' from where I had it by the time that thread was started, it was obviously of interest to know where the bird had gone. As you can see, it has now returned to the river, slightly upstream of where it was originally.
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