[EBB Sightings] Tufted Duck / Lake Merritt continues

Hi all:

The drake Tufted Duck continues at the east end of
Lake Merritt. The bird was seen well this afternoon.
As noted by Jean Richmond, the tuft is on the short
side and lays neatly across the crown unless the bird
is actively foraging. In nice afternoon light, the
purple head of the Tufted Duck stood out in contrast
to the deep-green of the Greater Scaup.  And finding a
scaup-like bird w/a black back mixed in with the
gray=backed scaup is probably key to the whole search.

Aquatic Park in Berkeley had 2 Forster's Terns
actively foraging, 2 female Barrow's Goldeneye, and
Bufflemania 2005 w/ 50-odd Bufflehead engaged in a
feeding frenzy.  No sign of the Tufted Duck in that
area, nor the annual Hooded Mergansers, not the whole
16 Black-throated Gray Warbler. But I'll keep trying.

Good birding,


"No birds sang the whole time we were up there. I didn't see a thing.  I still dream about that trip though." Ted Parker, Northern Peru. 1978
From: A Parrot Without A Name. Don Stap. Knopf, 1990

Bob Power
Oakland, CA
Alameda County