For those who aren’t on eBird or Facebook, John Zakelj photographed a Tufted Duck today (Jan 7) at Colvill Park in Goodhue Co.
So far its origin (i.e. wild or captive) has not been determined. If it is from a farm—and yes, there are farms in Minnesota that have Tufted Ducks—it is required by the US Fish and Wildlife Service that there is some marking on it that identifies it as not wild. Some websites I found mentioned rear toe clipping as a requirement but I couldn’t find an official/government website with that stated specifically. Anyway, hopefully someone more knowledgeable on captive waterfowl than me can contribute. All I did was a quick Google search. And FYI—the two other Tufted Duck records for the state (1976 and 2000) were unaccepted, probably due to questionable origin. For those trying for it, take photos, especially if it is standing with its feet visible. Good birding! Alyssa DeRubeis ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
