Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Where were we first reported?


Masked Duck
Originally uploaded by Laura Erickson
According to the Masked Duck entry in Birds of North America Online:
This species was first documented in the United States (in Wisconsin, well outside its usual tropical and subtropical range; perhaps an escaped captive) in 1870; by 1905 it had been collected in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Texas.

Notice the euphemistic use of "documented" and "collected." But it's still interesting. And NO--we did not leave Wisconsin out of embarrassment that we weren't as flashy as our Ruddy Duck relatives.

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