A European duck spotted this week in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook is quickly becoming a celebrity for the state’s birdwatchers.
Eric Hynes, Audubon Society staff naturalist in Falmouth, identified the rare sight in Maine as a male tufted duck. Hynes said it’s only the third one ever photographed in Maine.
People are traveling to Westbrook from central and Down East Maine to watch and photograph the rare sight. Using a telescope, Skip Small of Rockport was viewing the duck Thursday as it sat on the edge of river ice downstream from the bridge in downtown Westbrook. The tufted duck seemed content to mingle with other ducks in the river.
Small believed the duck landed here after being blown off course in a storm. He heard about the sighting in Westbrook from a “hot bird alert” on the Internet.
Small first saw the tufted duck in Westbrook on Tuesday.
Hynes said the European visitor was spotted in the Presumpscot River beginning last Saturday. It has been seen both above and below the falls in downtown Westbrook.
According to the Ducks Unlimited Web site, male tufted ducks resemble ring-necked ducks. A principal difference “is the tuft of feathers that fall behind the head. In addition, the sides are white rather than gray, the bill lacks a white margin at the base, and in flight a white stripe at the back of the inner wing is displayed. The ducks breed across Eurasia from Iceland and the British Isles east across Russia and Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Commander Islands. There are no breeding records of tufted ducks in North America.” The ducks regularly visit western Alaska and rarely along the East Coast.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Small, who thought the duck might stay for a while, as long as there’s open water in the river.
A rare male Tufted Duck sits along side the Presumpscot River in Westbrook Thursday morning.
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