Tufted Duck, Salem, NH – First NH State Record, March 2016

It was the last day of a business trip and I was on my way back to the San Francisco airport when I received a text that a Tufted Duck was spotted in Salem, NH.  One might not get too excited about this report since this Eurasian rarity has recently been reported multiple times annually somewhere in New England.  But this was the long-awaited first record of Tufted Duck in NH - despite several recent sightings in northeastern MA tantalizingly close to the NH line.  Needless to say I wanted to see that bird to add it to my NH list!

But I was 3,000 miles away.  I was heading home that day but wouldn’t get in early enough to try for it that evening.  So I would have to hope that the bird would stay around until the next morning.  Another complication was that it was found on Captain Pond which is right on the NH/MA border.  That was just a mile to the northwest of Crystal Lake in Haverhill, MA, and about 6 miles northwest of Kenoza Lake in Haverhill where a Tufted Duck was found in January.  In fact, this could well be the same bird making stops in both states.  So I not only needed to cross my fingers that the bird would stay in the area, but also that it would not make a short flight to a nearby lake in MA.  Would this turn out to be another possible New England tick that I would miss because I was out of town? 

I arrived at Captain Pond just after dawn the next morning and there were already 3 birders on site.  The news was that the bird was still there, but recently swam out of sight into a cove around the corner.  The pressure was off, but I still needed the bird to cooperate.  A couple minutes later several flocks of Mallards flew from that general area.  And then while I was scanning through the Mallards a birder spotted a group of 4 divers flying from the cove.  The divers landed on the lake right in front of us – they were 3 female Scaup and the male Tufted Duck.  I guess I didn’t need to stress out over having to wait a day to see this bird after all.  The birds gave us some nice views as they swam by, and I was able to get this phonescoped photo of this very handsome bird.

Tufted Duck was #359 for my NH list, and the 240th species (and perhaps the rarest species) I’ve seen in every New England state.  I’ve also seen this rarity in the Lower 48 in MD, CA, and OR, as well as in AK.