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Everything's just ducky: Wastewater-treatment plant becomes home to rare-fowl sighting, and hundreds flock here to get their first look at a tufted duck
Photo courtesy of David Disher
A rare bird: Tufted ducks are ordinary in places like England and Sweden, but not in North America. Birders from many states came to record the discovery.
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Published: April 3, 2009
Updated: 04/02/2009 10:25 pm
Winston-Salem may have recently had a rare visitor -- one normally found only in northern Europe and Asia, and occasionally in northeastern Canada or along the Pacific Coast.
The sighting of a tufted duck in the wild in North Carolina has never been documented. But it looks as if we may have had one at the Archie Elledge Wastewater Treatment Plant on Griffith Road -- of all places.
Birders get strange looks from friends when they mention going to wastewater-treatment plants. But we know that the shallow, nutrient-rich settling ponds attract ducks, shorebirds and other waterfowl. The ponds provide easy access to plenty of food.
These small ponds also offer closer looks and less walking than larger bodies of water, like Salem Lake. For most of January, Archie Elledge Wastewater Treatment Plant offered a duck bonanza for almost 800 visitors. In addition to the usual mallards, there were ring-necked, greater and lesser scaup, green-winged teal, northern shoveler, northern pintail, bufflehead, gadwall and ruddy. Late in the month, a rare white-winged scoter and two uncommon common golden-eyes also arrived.
After reading e-mail messages about all the activity on Jan. 30, Marbry "Hop" Hopkins could not resist an afternoon trip to Archie Elledge. Hopkins quickly found the goldeneyes, the scoter and many of the other ducks. But then a duck with white flanks and a black back caught his eye among the scaups. Male scaups have white sides but gray backs. Ring-necked ducks have similarities, too, but not white flanks. The odd bird also seemed to show a small tuft of feathers at the back of the head. Could this be a tufted duck? Hop had never seen one before, except in photos.
Seeing a different bird is thrilling. "I told myself to settle down and carefully analyze the bird's field marks," Hopkins said. "I phoned David Disher and told him to get over here with your camera, fast." Soon Hopkins, Disher and John Haire, who also arrived, were checking field guides. The bird looked like a tufted duck, but could it be something else? Tufted ducks and scaups can hybridize, so maybe it was one of those. Possibly, it was only an escapee from a zoo or private collection. Hopkins posted his discovery on our local and statewide message boards for birders. Seeing a different bird is thrilling.
During winter, ducks move with the changing weather. Experienced birders from around North Carolina knew they could have limited time to verify our first tufted duck. The next day was a Saturday. By early morning, many local birders were at the plant along with several out-of-towners. Ricky Davis, Harry LeGrand and Jeff Pippen, who sit on an N.C. Bird Records Committee, traveled from the Raleigh area to check out the duck.
The Bird Records Committee assesses the validity of reported sightings of rare birds. If this was a tufted duck, the committee could add it to our official state list.
The committee members had a personal interest, too. Pippen has seen more than 400 species in 20 years of birding. "My bird list is a personal collection of sightings, memories, and experiences," he said. "It's quite exciting for collectors to add something unusual to their collection." But like most of us there that morning, neither LeGrand nor Pippen had ever seen a tufted duck.
Experts and non-experts started discussing whether this bird was pure tufted or a hybrid. Initial impressions were uncertain. The bird showed a greenish sheen to the head, not purple as expected. Greater scaups usually show green heads. Also, the tuft was not full length. But the bird had the white flanks, dark back and expected bluish bill with a black tip. It also dove constantly, typical of this species. People took many photos of ripples, where the bird had been. LeGrand marked down "tufted duck" in pencil, pending further investigation.
By Sunday, LeGrand said that his pencil check was getting closer to ink. Photographs of both this duck and other tufted ducks showed both purple and green sheens, which could be explained by sunlight angles. Also, photos and drawings of hybrid birds showed gray backs. Moreover, European birders looked at posted photos and said "tufted duck," and no one could find evidence that this might be an escaped bird. This summer, the records committee will review the evidence and take a formal vote on whether to accept the sighting.
The treatment plant became a major tourist attraction. On that first Saturday, over 100 bird enthusiasts traveled to see our duck.
Over the next two weeks, close to 800 people visited, including birders from Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia. The plant's security team graciously checked everyone through the gate, and they were thrilled when Hopkins thanked them with framed photos of the star. On Valentine's Day, Lee Byerly, the plant superintendent, was proudly showing off "his" duck to his wife, Cheryl. He told me how pleased his staff was to be host to this event. Visiting birders were deeply appreciative of plant staff for allowing the opportunity.
Tufted ducks are ordinary in places like Sweden and England, not in North America. During February's Greater Backyard Bird Count, seven were reported in Canada, one each in Maryland and Washington, and one here. Finding a tufted duck in Winston-Salem was special. Also special, as Pippen noted, was the sharing of birding stories and fellowship among kindred spirits who met at a wastewater-treatment plant. He and all of us already are looking forward to the thrill of the next rare bird.
□ Forsyth Audubon's April bird walk will be on Saturday, April 11 at Historic Bethabara. Meet behind the visitor center at 8 a.m. For more information, contact David or Susan Disher at 765-9356, or thedishers@bellsouth.net. To subscribe to the local birders' e-mail listserv, go to www.forsythaudubon.org and click on "forsythbirds."
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