Return of the Tufted Duck and Finding Ring-necked Pheasants

Late last year we had a Tufted Duck visit us in Toronto, down by the lake.  Over the next couple of months, it had been spotted in various bodies of water as it moved west toward Niagara.  Last week it showed up at the Burlington Ship Yards and I was lucky enough to have time to go see it up close.  It was very windy and the tuft was actually blowing up over his head, as my pictures show.

A couple of days ago I saw that some Ring-necked Pheasants were being reported in the Hamilton area and I had never seen one really close, and also hadn’t seen them in Ontario, so took a drive to find them as well, and after a brief look at one in some bushes, I finally found a beautiful male, giving me 317 species for Ontario.

The tuft seems to have grown since seeing it in Toronto,(if this is indeed the same duck):

Great comparison between the Tuffted Duck,(top) and a Greater Scaup:

Ring-necked Pheasant:

I also added added a new bird to my growing Colonel Sam Smith Park List, a Great Black-backed Gull,(#198), sitting on the ice not far from a Gadwall in the marina: