I always find it difficult to get excited about ducks, particularly when their provenance is generally viewed as suspect. This bird however at least ticked the fully winged (though there was some slight secondary and primary damage on the right wing) and unringed boxes and the fact that it was picked up initially, on a seawatch, by Flamborough stalwart Brett Richards helps give it a little more credibility. Pretty impressive work by the salty old seawatching dog.
A cracking male and only 1.5 hours away it would have been rude not to go. Despite moving from Northcliffe Marsh to Old Fall and then being flushed by a couple of dogs it settled infront of the hide back at Northcliffe it slept (most of the time) before feeding among a handful of Wigeon. Unfortunately both cameras and my scope were left at home so I had to make do with a few phonescoped images. Whatever the provenance it was a pretty smart bird in wild surroundings.
This wasn't the first Baikal Teal that I've seen in Britain. The first was a suppressed (cough) female at Fort Henry Ponds, Leicestershire some twenty odd years ago. Where after being drugged* and a hood placed over my head*, I was driven to the edge of some private estate where upon arrival I was beaten* and forced at gunpoint* to look through a scope at a drab though subtle duck cavorting among the resident Mallards. To my utter amazement it was rejected - though this did save me the guilt of knowing I had a suppressed bird on my list.
Now the bird has gone the usual bollocks debate has begun on Birdforum. Despite the sniping the decision ultimately rests with the BBRC and at least one serving member seemed happy with it.
*all lies
1 comment:
Looks good for me and seeing as I had no chance of going till weekend - Spring ducks never hang around - I have no bias either way.
The feather damage looks like Maltese Moult anyway so it's lucky to be alive! Hope it gets accepted... can't see why it won't.
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