1^st Round Voting Comments

Record #: 1-B-99

American Black Duck

ACCEPT -- 7 Accept, 0 Reject

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Shirley Sturts -- Accept

Good documentation by several observers.

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Dave Trochlell -- Accept

I accept 1-B-99-1 as a record for American Black Duck, but cast my vote without a completely satisfying feeling of conviction. To say that this was a tough first vote for me was a bit of an understatement! First of all, I believe that species identity was fairly well established, thanks to the good documentation by the observers. Then again, since Mottled Duck is a fairly similar species to American Black Duck (AMBD), this southeastern U.S. species should have been considered and compared in the reports. Of course Mottled Duck is a long shot for the Lewiston, Idaho vicinity, but the species has strayed northward on occasion, and at least once to Colorado. One obvious AMBD field mark inexplicably missing from these reports was tail color. AMBD sports an all-dark tail area (as does Mottled Duck), whereas Mallards have whitish tails.

Far more troubling than species identity is the thorny issue of origin or wild provenance. The fact is, AMBD was released in both Washington (Everett) and British Colombia (n. of Victoria) many years ago, and some people believe that these introduced populations, though dwindling, provide the likely source for occasional AMBD sightings in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps they do! It’s true that the subject of this vote seemed wary and “acted skittish”, but according to Francis H. Kortwright in "The Ducks, Geese & Swans of North America", American Black Duck is “the most sagacious, wary, and wildest of all ducks, and even in captivity it retains its shyness and distrust of man.” So if we can believe this little behavioral chestnut from Kortwright, then any observation that equates shyness with wildness must not be taken too seriously. That said, in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary, (and in most cases that’s how it goes!), a vote to accept or reject waterfowl of unknown wild provenance comes down to little more than an opinion on whether vagrancy of the species is probable or not. In the case of AMBD, documentation exists for a pattern of vagrancy away from the species' core range. And there is certainly no good reason why the Lewiston bird could not have been a wild vagrant, given that the species is a powerful flier. Although perhaps merely circumstantial evidence, the Oregon and California's rare bird committees have voted to accept AMBD records in recent years. I believe that we should do the same, and give this one the nod of acceptance.

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Charles Swift -- Accept

[no comments]

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Chuck Trost -- Accept

Multiple competent observers, good descriptions, no obvious signs of captivity.

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Cliff Weisse -- Accept

Description is consistent with American Black Duck and conclusively rules out other species and hybrids.

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Carlisle -- Accept

Critical field marks reported by multiple observers on several occasions.

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Dumroese -- Accept

These 4 records combined provide an excellent description of the bird.

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