Sorry for not posting this before. Sunday evening Marshall Iliff found a Canvasback x Redhead hybrid in the flock of Canvasbacks off the ice edge between Stewart Park and East Shore Park. This is very likely the same bird seen a few times last winter in the same area and later at Myers Point. I did not see it last night or this morning (the ice expanded last night and not many ducks were visible at the south end this morning), but keep an eye out for this bird. It is just what it sounds like, an bird intermediate between a Canvasback and a Redhead, rather pochard-like in appearance. Marshall has posted some photos here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21636226
With this (re?)discovery, I think we can officially state that this winter, the south end of Cayuga Lake has the coolest Aythya flock in the continent (and perhaps the world?) A quick recap of the contents: Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Tufted Duck Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Canvasback x Redhead Redhead x Ring-necked Duck Redhead x scaup Ring-necked Duck x scaup + bonus ivory Redhead Not too shabby. -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
