Nature Notes for January 6, 2012
The last week of December brought a real rarity to our area,
not to Northumberland, but to neighbouring Durham Region. On Tuesday, December
27, Ontbirds, the listserv of the Ontario Field Ornithologists, reported a Smew
in Whitby harbour. The report came complete with a photograph.
What is a Smew you ask? It is a small duck, native to
Eurasia. It is a fish-eating duck which seems to fill the same ecological niche
in Eurasia as the Hooded Merganser does in North America.
Most North American records of Smew are from the outer
Aleutian Islands. The Annotated Checklist
of the Birds of Ontario (1991) lists only two records of this species in
Ontario, most recently in 1973.
Smews breed across the taiga zone of the Old World from Scandinavia
to the Kamchatka Peninsula. They nest in old woodpecker holes and will readily
use nest boxes, such as are erected here to encourage Wood Ducks.
They winter on sheltered seas and lakes in eastern Europe, chiefly
in the southwestern Baltic Sea and coastal waters of Black and Caspian Seas. In
the east, it also winters around the coasts, lakes and rivers of China, Korea
and Japan.
On December 28, it was still being reported so we decided to
chase it. Despite the cold, icy paths and a biting north wind, our party of
three had lots of company at Whitby harbour. At least 25 other birders were at
the harbour while we were there, but no one stayed very long because of the
cold wind. For most of them, this was probably a “life bird”.
The adult male Smew has a very distinctive plumage. It is
mostly white with a black eye patch and small amounts of black on its back. The Whitby bird was not an adult male. It had
a black eye patch, chestnut cap and mottled gray-brown and white on the rest of
the body. There was some discussion as to the sex of this bird. The consensus of
our party was that this was a young male. It seemed to have more white on the
body than a female should have.
Despite the company of 1000+ Red-breasted Mergansers, and
smaller numbers of Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Long-tailed Ducks,
Gadwall, American Black Ducks, Canada Geese, Mute Swans, and Trumpeter Swans,
the Smew was quite easy to find. It was swimming and diving quite close to the
observers on the harbour breakwall. Although we had a spotting scope, it was
possible to get quite good looks at this bird with binoculars alone.
Because waterfowl are often kept in private collections,
frequently there is dispute as to the origin of unusual ducks and geese. Did it
arrive on its own or is it an escape from a zoo? There didn’t seem to be such
discussion about this bird. It will be interesting to see what the Ontario Rare
Birds Records Committee decides.
The Smew was seen on only two days. The evening of the 28th
was cold. The huge merganser flock departed, and along with it, the Smew.
Since I am not planning a trip to Europe, Asia or the
Aleutians, it was a great treat to see this duck so close to home. The annual
Mid-winter Waterfowl Inventory is being held on Sunday, January 8. It will be
interesting to see if the Smew may have relocated to somewhere else on Lake
Ontario.
No comments:
Post a Comment