Bird of month - Tufted Duck

Normally the thought of a duck as a bird of the month in summer seems rather odd but the Tufted Duck is one of our winter ducks that increasingly stays in small numbers
 to breed secretively in our summers and proves a worthy subject for birdwatchers to look for in July.

This is an easy species to see and identify because both sexes bear a tufted crown, a feature which is longer and more distinctive in males than females. Whereas the female has brown plumage (picture below) the male is essentially black and white with striking white flanks (pictured left). Both species have beady yellow eyes and a black-tipped blue-grey bill.

Tufted Duck are a secretive species and they nest later than most ducks, some of the young appearing as late as July and August usually from islands on gravel pits and lakes with dense marginal vegetation. A clutch would be from 8-11 eggs and they can take almost a month to hatch. Tufted Duck feed mainly by diving for zebra mussels and other invertebrates, the former having spread aggressively across the UK since being first found in the London docks in 1824 and this may be a factor in their increasing growth in numbers in summer.

The male birds tend to desert their breeding areas for larger reservoirs and lakes outside our area to moult once breeding has occurred so as summer wears on the birds seen locally will be predominantly young and females. They are not very wary of man as they are found in parks and gravel pits well used by people, but it is unlikely they will come quite as close as Mallard, Mute Swans and Canada Geese. From September winter migrants begin to return to the area swelling numbers considerably throughout the valley.

Numbers of this small, attractive diving duck are very high in winter with over 200 at Yateley Lakes in January 2005 and over 130 at Eversley as examples. Just one month earlier a site record of over 250 was recorded at Moor Green Lakes. Over 100 can also usually be found at Frimley. In the summer of 2005, only 7-8 pairs stayed to breed at Eversley and probably a similar number at Moor Green Lakes, with a handful found at Frimley, Tongham Pond and other waters along the Blackwater Valley.

Any larger waters in the Valley may hold Tufted Duck in summer and if you see some, especially with young at this time of the year, please let us know.

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Colin Wilson

Bird Report Editor & Records Co-ordinator, Reading Ornithological Club. www.theroc.org.uk