FEATHER IN HIS CAP.Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard The odd duck is back. Area birders say this strange bird is so rare that he wouldn't be any more unusual if he were an Oregon Duck who won the Heisman Trophy. This male falcated duck, native to eastern Siberia and northern China, is creating so much hype among bird brains that some are actually en route from as far away as Toronto and North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. to see him. And you thought the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. men's basketball team, off to its best start in 80 years, was the only group of Ducks garnering nationwide attention. "These hard-core birders don't mess around," said Ray Holmberg, who lives at the gated Gainsborough Homes subdivision off Irving Road in north Eugene. It was Holmberg who first spotted the rare Anas falcata (its scientific name) Monday as it walked atop an icy canal at the retirement community. Holmberg, 65, who describes himself as an amateur birder, thought he might be "quacking" up when he saw such a beautiful, strange duck hanging out with a flock of commonplace mallards and wigeons. What the heck was this duck, with the white spot above its bill, the iridescent ir·i·des·cent adj. 1. Producing a display of lustrous, rainbowlike colors: an iridescent oil slick; iridescent plumage. 2. green head and those gunmetal gunmetal, a bronze, an alloy of copper, tin, and a small amount of zinc. Although originally used extensively for making guns (from which it received its name), it has been superseded by steel, and it is now chiefly employed in casting machine parts. gray chest feathers with long, falcated (or sickle-shaped) tertials? Holmberg posted his sighting on the Web site for Oregon Birders On Line (which links with www.birdingonthe.net, a place for rare North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. bird sightings) and the word was out. Local bird enthusiasts come out and lined the canal's banks this week, and Holmberg started getting calls and e-mails from around the country. In fact, a falcated duck has been sighted here before, but the word seems well and truly out in the birding community this time. "This is undoubtedly the same bird that has been reappearing for four years or so now," said Alan Contreras, a local bird expert and author of the recently published "Birds of Lane County." That would make sense, said Ted Floyd of Boulder, Colo., editor of Birding magazine, a publication of the American Birding Association The American Birding Association (ABA) is a non-profit organization of people interested in birding. Membership is open to all, but many of its publications and programs have historically been aimed at birders who like making difficult field identifications and finding rare species. . "Once a duck gets lost, it usually gets lost in the same place again," Floyd said. There are plenty of examples of birds "flying back to the same pond in New Jersey every year." Only a few North American falcated duck sightings have ever been made outside Alaska, Floyd said, and those have been in British Columbia, Washington and California. The main question regarding these sightings, Floyd said, is whether it's a wild bird that flew from Asia or an escapee escapee A popular term for older relatives of those at risk for Huntington's disease, who didn't develop the disease. See Huntington's disease. from an aviary aviary Structure for keeping captive birds, usually spacious enough for the aviculturist to enter. Aviaries range from small enclosures to large flight cages 100 ft (30 m) or more long and up to 50 ft (15 m) high. Enclosures for birds that fly only little or weakly (e.g. . A solitary falcated duck - Contreras and others presume it's the same one as the one now visiting near the Gainsborough Homes subdivision - has been spotted in various local spots in recent years. In February 2004, one was seen at Kirk Pond near Fern Ridge Lake, and last year one was seen in a pond alongside Highway 99 near the Eugene Airport, said Roger Robb, a Eugene birder. Just last month, one was spotted at a pond by a Coburg RV park, he said. Could it really be the same duck? "Oh, absolutely," Robb said. A falcated duck normally would head south along the Asian coast for the winter, said David Irons of Eugene, co-regional editor for North American Birds <onlyinclude> This list of North American birds is a comprehensive listing of all the bird species known from the North American continent north of Mexico. </onlyinclude> , a quarterly report published by the American Birding Association. But occasionally they head "down the wrong coast," he said. "Once it establishes a place where it's comfortable, it'll keep coming back to the same spot," Irons said. WHERE TO LOOK To see the falcated duck, Gainsborough Homes asks that those interested please call ahead to make arrangements. The number is 689-1390 RARE BIRD ALERT A male falcated duck visits Eugene Plumage plumage, of birds: see feathers. : Gray with green head, bronze crown and long, sickle-shaped flight feathers overhanging tail Length: 19 to 21 inches; about same size as American wigeon or gadwall gadwall Small dabbling duck (Anas strepera) that is a popular game bird, found throughout the upper Northern Hemisphere. Its largest breeding populations in North America are in the Dakotas and in Canada's prairie provinces. - Wikipedia |
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