Falcated Duck

One day under the weather, one day feeling fine, seems to be the pattern for me at present, unfortunately Mrs L seems stuck under the weather with whatever bug that's hit us. Anyway as I'm feeling okay I'm off on a seventy mile trip to Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire for a lifetime tick of a Falcated Duck. Although not on the British List as per The British Ornithologists' Union, it's a tick on the UK400 list and as this bird is unringed and exceedingly wary, then there's every chance of it being the real thing. Anyway as the first person I met on arrival at Farmoor Reservoir was LGRE and he says it's okay to tick then that'll do for me.

Quite a trek round the reservoir to the far North West corner to see the bird, but a lovely bright if chilly day and a lovely bright bird too.

Should this bird actually be the real deal, then it's a tad off course. It should be breeding over much of south-east Siberia, Russia, south to northern Mongolia, China, and Japan. Although the global population was previously estimated to be 35,000 individuals, recent counts indicate that it is considerably higher, with perhaps as many as 89,000 in total. The majority of birds spending the non-breeding season in China (78,000), Japan (9,000), North Korea and South Korea (2,000). It also regularly winters in small numbers in Bangladesh, north-east India, Nepal, where it is rare and irregular, Taiwan, and northern Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, where it is a very rare visitor. Vagrants have been recorded from Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malta, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and the Aleutian Islands of the United States. Escapes from waterfowl collections mask the extent of vagrancy to western Europe.

Check out RCB for a closer view of the Falcated Duck.

After a good look round a couple of Slavonian Grebes and three Scaup were the other highlights. Then the trek back to the car where I was pleased to feel no after effects, hopefully this bug is finally behind me.