Mandarin Duck, etc.

[JANINE LECHLEITNER]

I would like to make a comment on the Mandarin duck and counting exotic birds/waterfoul on CBC's. I firmly believe that all bird species counted should be listed on the states bird list or the ABA checklist. Why is this duck posted on the rare bird alert? I know that Ted Floyd made a comment on this species from California. I checked the ABA list for North America- not there!!! California doesn't have this bird listed on their state list as well. I checked that Wed. evening (updated list Aug 2009). Don't get me wrong, it's nice to come across these birds, but don't list them on the rare bird alert. Has anyone proven that this bird is wild? I feel that this bird is an escapee from someones collection. Did this bird show any banding of sort? I know that some owners will band their birds and some won't leaving things in question, but lets all use are heads here and remember where this species is truly from and what are the chances that this duck is wild! Can anyone send me any info. on when the last time a wild Asiatic species of duck was found in the United States not alone Colorado? If this duck is truly doing something in California, I guess it's not enough to convince the bird records committee to add it to their list! If we can count exotic birds on CBC's, can I go to the zoo and get all those neat species of birds? I guess not because they are in captivity right? This Mandarin Duck was in captivity(probably), and it got loose. Someone better go and catch it and return it to its rightful owner-HA.

 

Tom Lechleitner

Fort Lupton, CO

Weld County

 

P.S.- Remember birding is supposed to be fun and relaxing. Also, I would like to see common sense directions to all bird sitings if possible. Not everyone has a GPS on their belt or a topographic map handy. lately, I feel like I have to answer a math question in order to find the bird. 

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders.

A few things regarding the Mandarin Duck in Boulder County.

1. I vote to include such species on the Colorado Rare Bird Alert (RBA). Needless to say, that "vote" is up to the compilers of the RBA--who provide a valuable service to the Colorado birding community, I might note. I think we should all be grateful to Joyce Takamine, Allison Hilf, Chuck Thornton-Kolbe, and others who provide us with this superb resource. Anyhow, this Mandarin Duck is a rare bird, it's a beautiful bird, and it's a bird that a lot of folks have gone out to see. Clearly, there is interest in seeing this bird. It's appropriate to mention it on the RBA, if you ask me.

2. Hannah and Andrew and I succeeded in seeing the drake Mandarin Duck during the lunch hour yesterday, Wednesday, Dec. 30th. Here's a map that shows where to look for the bird: http://tinyurl.com/yzf9zhs The blue stickpin indicates where to set up your scope. The blue quadrilateral indicates the area in which the Mandarin Duck was ranging.

3. We saw just the one Mandarin Duck, a drake; we didn't see the 2 or 3 reported by Julia Bond & Co. But we saw other exotic ducks there! We saw one that looked like this: http://tinyurl.com/ykjym83 (minus the topknot). We also saw one that looked like this: http://tinyurl.com/ygakqu3 (the left bird in the photo).

4. For those of you who are interested in native species, we saw 6 Lesser Scaups and 21 Hooded Mergansers at the site, too. (And back on Monday, coming in from 61st Street, we saw 2 American Dippers and an excellent Prairie Falcon.)

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Ted Floyd
Editor, Birding

Check out Birding magazine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine

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P.s. I'm sure I've lost Tom Lechleitner, but, according to the Google Distance Calculator, the viewing point is 609 feet from the Mandarin Duck. 608.589 feet, to be exact; and now we can really have a math conversation, re: significant digits. "Not everyone has a GPS on their belt or a topographic map handy. Lately, I feel like I have to answer a math question in order to find the bird."

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[Greg Pasquariello]

1 degree is roughly 69 miles (depending on heading and latitude, but close enough for this discussion). A mile is 1/69 of 1 degree, or roughly 0.0145 degrees. 100 feet is 1/53 of a mile (again, rounding) or .00027 degrees. So unfortunately, in GPS terms, the whole dang number is significant to get any kind of accuracy.

I write a lot of mapping apps for websites and mobile phones, so I feel everyone should buy an iPhone and not try to remember long sequences of numbers, addresses, directions, or anything like that :-)

-Greg Pasquariello
28.358523, -82.590251

[Leon Bright]

COBirders,

Veteran Pueblo-area birders are familiar with a small flock of feral,
self-sustaining Mandarin ducks that live along the Arkansas River and ponds
near Pueblo City Park. Their origin dates at least to a couple of decades
ago from some captive ducks held by a resident of the nearby Aberdeen area.
The Mandarins quickly took flight and established the flock that has been
reproducing in the wild for several generations. Mark Yaeger, compiler of
the Pueblo Reservoir CBC, uses a category for them so they can be noted on
that count. Everyone agrees they are spectacular waterfowl.

As far as reporting birds on this forum, I am of the persuasion that we
should encourage everyone to report anything they think would be of interest
to others. I do not find it difficult to sort through the list of messages
and choose which ones interest me. Whether to "count" a particular species
is up to the individual unless he or she is participating in competitive
birding. I'm happy to leave rules for competition up to whatever
organization runs the game.

Leon Bright
Pueblo
(and one of the many former presidents of CFO)

[revan...@aol.com]

Birders,

 

I agree with Ted and Leon about reporting: let's report each unusual bird that we see, and let the members of the listserv decide whether or not they want to look for it.  Exotics are always interesting to me, regardless of their origin.  Several years ago there was a Black Swan at Walden Pond in Boulder.  Several people got to see it, though we all knew that it had to be an escapee from someone's collection, since these birds do not migrate out of the Australasian region.   That did make it any less interesting to most of us who saw it.

 

Leon brings up another point: Mandarin Ducks have evidently been nesting successfully in Colorado for several years.  How many years must they do so before they are included in the official ABA list?

 

Thanks for bringing up such interesting topics for discussion.

 

Bob Evans

Cascabel, AZ

(formerly of Boulder)