Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 14:55:00 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: On the breeding status of Ruddy Duck in MD MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, Carol Erwin's recent post raised the possibility of Ruddy Ducks breeding at Hurlock Waste Water Treatment Plant, Dorchester County. I thought some may be interested to know what the breeding status of Ruddy Duck actually is in Maryland. This is all of the top of my head so please forgive any minor errata. Maryland has two breeding records of Ruddy Duck, both recent. The first record was in the early 1990s (about 1993?) when a pair bred at Druid Hill Lake, Baltimore City (some of you may know Druid Hill as the site of the Baltimore Zoo). The second breeding was in 1999 (I think) when Dave Mozurkewich saw a female with a brood of several half-grown young at Deal Island W.M.A., Somerset County. Ruddy Duck is the most regular summering non-breeding species of waterfowl in Maryland, is annual all summer at Hurlock, and invariably can be found at a number of other small ponds, or sewage ponds (e.g. Easton, Pocomoke, Berlin), across the state. Last year I kept track and had Ruddies in June or July in Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne's, Kent, Worcester, and Baltimore Counties. The Yellow Book has their status drastically underestimated for summer. I have long anticipated breeding at Hurlock given the regularity with which Ruddies summer there (sometimes 10+ birds). Breeding probably would have already occurred if there were more marsh around the edges, but rip-rapped sewage ponds are not particularly good for nesting waterfowl. Still, the fact that weeds often grow up along the dikes and the fact that Ruddies are ALWAYS present at Hurlock, makes it a logical choice for the next MD breeding record. That said, I do think it is important to document rare breeding events such as Ruddy Ducks. Photos are ideal, but a careful study of the birds supported by a detailed description is second best. Many records committees review rare breeding records, and I personally (I do NOT speak for the committee here) think that the MD/DC Records Committee _should_ review such records. If you are fortunate enough to witness a rare breeding event such as Ruddy Ducks breeding in MD, please document it as best you can. Finally, I will close by saying that waterfowl are famous for producing extralimital breeding records. In addition to Ruddy Duck, consider the following ducks that have nested in MD: Ring-necked Duck - one breeding record during the 1990s from Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Prince George's Co., MD Northern Pintail - One nest with eggs found in 1970s (I think) along the shores of Assawoman Bay, Worcester Co., MD Green-winged Teal - One nest found by Harry Armistead at Deal Island, Somerset Co., in the 1970s (see Maryland Birdlife article) and one brood found by Rick Blom at Courthouse Pt., Cecil Co., MD, more recently (early 1990s). Northern Shoveler - One brood seen in the Blackwater area of Dorchester Co. during the Atlas (mid-1980s). Cinnamon Teal? - One of the more interesting and confusing stories in MD birding lore...a male Cinnamon Teal of unknown provenance was seen at West Ocean City Pond from April to June sometime in the 1970s. At one point it was noted that he was consorting with a female teal, either Blue-winged or Cinnamon (even Blue-winged would be rare breeding in Worcester). The female was never identified but was flushed off a brood of eggs at one point. A Cinnamon Teal breeding record or no? Finally, I note that other states have breeding records of even weirder waterfowl. Delaware has an American Wigeon breeding record apparently, and I heard a rumor of a successful BLACK SCOTER nest in NORTH CAROLINA (though I don't know the details)!! Common Merganser has not been confirmed breeding in MD yet, but would make most top ten most likely lists. Food for thought perhaps... Best, Marshall Iliff *********************** Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Annapolis, MD ************************ ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================