Aythya fuligula
Status: Rare casual winter visitor.
Documentation: Photograph: 14 Jan 2004 by Marshall Iliff of male discovered 3 Dec 1999 by Stephen Dinsmore at Keystone Lake, Keith Co (Dinsmore 2000, Brogie 2005).
Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized (Gill et al 2022).
For Nebraska records of hybrids see Ring-necked Duck x Tufted Duck, and Tufted Duck x Lesser Scaup.
Records: The only records are likely referable to the same individual, a male that wintered on Keystone Lake, Keith Co for five winters, beginning 3 Dec 1999-29 Apr 2000 (Dinsmore 2000, Jorgensen 2001). Subsequent sightings were 26 Nov-13 Dec 2000 (Jorgensen 2002), 16 Dec 2001 and 19 Jan 2002, 15 Dec 2002, 14-16 May 2003, and 19-22 Dec 2003.
Comments: A male photographed at NNF McKelvie, Cherry Co 10 Jul 2019 by Paul Timm (Ring-necked Duck x Tufted Duck) caused extensive discussion as to its identity. A case was made for it being a Tufted Duck, potentially Nebraska’s second, but the possibility of it being a hybrid or intergrade involving Ring-necked Duck and Tufted Duck emerged as the most likely identification based on opinions from experts in England and on the US East Coast (Mark Brogie, Clem Klaphake, personal communications).
The Palearctic Tufted Duck occurs with some regularity in Pacific and Atlantic coastal states, with several records in the Great Lakes region, and oddly, a group of records in Utah through Wyoming to northeastern Colorado (eBird.org, accessed Apr 2023). East of the Rocky Mountains on the Great Plains, other than the Nebraska records, there are three for Wyoming, Mar and Apr (2) (Faulkner 2010), about five for northeastern Colorado, Mar (2), Nov, Dec, and Jan (CBRC accessed Apr 2023; eBird.org, accessed Apr 2023), and one for Kansas in Oct (Thompson et al 2011).
Images
Abbreviations
CBRC: Colorado Bird Records Committee
NNF: Nebraska National Forest
Literature Cited
Brogie, M.A. 2005. 2004 (16th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 73: 78-84.
CBRC [Colorado Bird Records Committee]. 2023. Tufted Duck records. Colorado Bird Records Committee database accessed Apr 2023.
Dinsmore, S.J. 2000. Tufted Duck at Lake Ogallala: first record for Nebraska. NBR 66: 102-103.
Faulkner, D.W. 2010. Birds of Wyoming. Roberts and Company, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Jorgensen, J.G. 2001. 1999 (Eleventh) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 69: 85-91.
Jorgensen, J.G. 2002. 2002 (sic; =2000). (12th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 70: 84-90.
Thompson, M.C., C.A. Ely, B. Gress, C. Otte, S.T. Patti, D. Seibel, and E.A. Young. 2011. Birds of Kansas. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2023. Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 14 Apr 2023