Good morning all.
This is a follow-up to the 2 messages on this subjet that I sent Thursday morning. It is 11:00AM Saturday May 3rd. Thanks to Bernie Ladouceur and Jan Slumkoski, the bird that I saw Wednesday evening and reported on Thursday morning, has been refound; that is the good news, the bad news is that it is not a Fulvous Whistling-Duck. Bernie called me earlier this morning. He is not able to send a message at this time, so we agreed that I would send one. Bernie and Jan found the bird last night at the St-Albert lagoons; it was with a male Mallard to which it seemed to be attached; the 2 birds were at the lagoon that is further away from the entrance than the 5 lagoons that one can see when standing in the middle of those 5; the two additional lagoons are not visible from that area. They were able to study the bird from about 100 meters while it was sitting on the water at the edge of the lagoon and at close range while it was in flight. Except for a somewhat whitish spot on the front of the neck, and a dark bill, this bird looked almost uniformly very twany to them; it showed no specular; it was somewhat smaller than the male mallard it was associating with; its shape and the absence of markings on the back, wings and rump, allowed them to conclude that it was not a Fulvous Whistling-Duck. Bernie concludes that the bird is a puddle duck, but he and Jan could not determine what it was; Bernie does not think it is an hybrid. I wished I could have done a better job when I saw that bird, but as I explained, the weather conditions were miserable and I could only see parts of the bird, from far away. Apologies to anyone who might have travelled long distance to try to see it. Good birding to all. Langis Sirois, Ottawa For directions, please refer to Larry Neily's excellent website: [1]http://ca.geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/sewage6.htm References 1. http://ca.geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/sewage6.htm _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
