rba for chilliwack: long-tailed duck

[josterhold]

hello birders
this morning (nov 15) at 9:45am there was a male winter plumage long-tailed duck in the small pond at the end of jesperson rd in chilliwack. to find the spot follow prest rd heading north to yale rd., head east. then take reeves road north to camp river rd. turn right and then a left on to jesperson rd. follow jesperson until you get to the dyke. it was resting on the water with its head tucked in when i found it. then after about 10 mins it started to feed. it would stay down for 20 seconds, be up for 20 seconds and then down again for 20 seconds. it kept feeding as i left it. i am not sure how rare of a bird it is out at this end of the valley, this is my first for chilliwack. i know they are seen out in harrison from time to time. any feed back on that would be welcome. also, present here were a commom goldeneye, 2 hooded mergansers, 6 buffleheads, and 7 ring-necked ducks.

happy birding,
jason
chilliwack

[Gord]

Nice find!!! I ripped out there from Vancouver (dont we usually run in the other direction!?!) after appointments to see it he would still be there at dark. Got there at 4:15 and he was busily feeding and seemed not to care about the noisy gravel sorting pit just 300 yds away. Took some pictures and will post them when I get them off the camera.

I would definately say this is a good bird for the area, especially in a little pond that to be honest, wouldnt be the first place Id go if I wanted to see such a duck, even if it was right on the coast next to the ocean. Only other inland long-tailed duck I know of is the one we saw a few years back on the last week of May in Osoyoos on the river at 22 rd. That one was a female as I recall and yet another bird I would not have expected to see. Funny how the rather easy to ID birds make you look more when you see them 'out of place'!
Good job!!!!

[Gord]

Some pictures. Im hoping for a brighter day tomorrow as long as he's still there. Probably will be there as he was there at dark and when I left him at about 4:30, he was in the middle of a energetic bath. Probably not something you'd do if you planned on going somewhere else for the night...(?)





You can see the long tail feathers if you look hard in the first image. The second, which is in better light, has his tail cut off. It is tough to track a moving target through the scope!
Cool bird and even cooler location! Hope others, if interested, get a chance to see him.

[b1schmor]

Hi Jason, great find. I have yet to encounter a Long-tailed Duck in the Abbotsford-Mission area. It is not listed on the Central Fraser Valley checklist. I am heading up to Kelowna today and hope to see it.

Cheers,
Brent Schmor

[Dave]

Thanks for the tip.

Jeff and I went out and had good views of the duck.

Thanks again

DB