I mean...what did I do? What did I do to deserve all these awesome birds delivered to my doorstep? Just days ago I gave thanks to the birding gods for my 2008 bounty of rare birds, thinking that last year's feast would mean this year's famine.
Not so.
After spending a beautiful morning birding Biddeford Pool I got an email (good lord, iPhone, what would I do without you?) reporting a possible Tufted Duck in the Portland-area city of Westbrook. Yeah. No big deal, just a duck that usually winters in the UK. This is Maine, remember?
So I went up and there he was, right off Main Street. Easy peasy, right? Well maybe not. There is some talk on the Maine Birding List about whether or not this bird is a pure Tufted or has hybridized with either a Ring-necked Duck or a Scaup. I met my friend Doug at the site, and we did not see much evidence of hybridization aside from the shorter-than-expected tuft. However, my new Kaufman Field Guide (thanks, Santa) specifically notes that tuft length is not a determining factor. Likewise, pictures of Scaup/Tufted hybrids do not match, as our bird was completely lacking the back-barring shown in that photo and in the Sibley drawing.