Sixdrakes, you should post that photo on the E-bird site so that birders in the area can get a chance to see it if they want. It may not be unique, as pointed out above, but it is certainly a rare sighting.

The bird should be reported just to document the record. I have both an e-bird and TEXBIRDS account but didn't know if the location was private or public. I am reluctant to report sightings on private property without some clearance beforehand. You can also call Houston Audubon and report the sighting and provide photographic documentation. I am not on Birds of Texas Facebook page so the bird may have already been reported.

Junction71 said:

---

The bird should be reported just to document the record. I have both an e-bird and TEXBIRDS account but didn't know if the location was private or public. I am reluctant to report sightings on private property without some clearance beforehand. You can also call Houston Audubon and report the sighting and provide photographic documentation. I am not on Birds of Texas Facebook page so the bird may have already been reported.

---

If it is the cross creek ranch polishing pond, it is adjacent to a public street, but there doesn't appear to be anywhere easy to park. I am not sure if Cross Creek Ranch has posted the boardwalks as resident only, but otherwise, no reason it would be considered "private". It looks like somebody reported a sighting of a Long Tailed Duck at the "Cross Creek Wetlands" on E-bird back on January 24th.

ETA: In looking back further, it looks like it was photographed there as far back as Jan 2nd.

Good research 92. That bird at Cross Creek Ranch Wetlands was first reported December 31st and has since been reported 94 times by individual observers. Early in January there was a pair of Long-tailed Ducks reported just north of the Galveston Causeway in a wetland pond. Scoping all the way down the Texas coast to Brownsville I see only 1 other Long-tailed Duck report and that is of an individual at Choke Canyon Lake last reported 2/9, photographs provided.

Also can report to iNat. Here are where they have been documented in Tx

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=18&taxon_id=7170

Junction71 said:

---

The bird is not lost nor is it migrating. A few move south and over-winter in Texas every year but there are so few they are hardly noticed, even by duck hunters. Some years they "irrupt", as some other bird species do, and may be found in unusual places. Several years ago a considerable irruption of Long-tailed Duck occurred in Texas so that 7-10 were reported all at one time. I even had one here in Junction at the Wastewater Treatment Ponds that ended up being the first county record and one of the few records for the Hill Country.

---

so you are saying they are kind of free-spirited ducks who don't care what the "rules" are about migration routes and they go where ever they damn well please.

Has anyone on here shot one of the Egyptian Geese that seem to hang around a lot of golf courses? Are they considered an invasive species and not counted towards bag limits, i.e, Eurasian Collared-Dove?

I've never seen one during a duck hunt but the hypothetical has crossed my mind a few times during slow hunts...

Yes killed quiet a few last few years. They do not count against your bag. Have a pair at taxidermist right now.

Awesome! Post a picture of them when you get them back!

ttha_aggie_09 said:

---

Has anyone on here shot one of the Egyptian Geese that seem to hang around a lot of golf courses? Are they considered an invasive species and not counted towards bag limits, i.e, Eurasian Collared-Dove?

I've never seen one during a duck hunt but the hypothetical has crossed my mind a few times during slow hunts...

---

My son shot one in Brookshire during the 2019 season. We are picking it up from the taxidermist Saturday.

I combed thru some of the reported long tail duck sightings in TX over the years. Its interesting to note that I didn't see a single drake. Maybe a couple that look like hens are actually immature drakes.

Sixdrakes said:

---

I combed thru some of the reported long tail duck sightings in TX over the years. Its interesting to note that I didn't see a single drake. Maybe a couple that look like hens are actually immature drakes.

---

Maybe the hens just need a little strange sometimes...

Awesome! Congratulations

disappointed in thread, no one ID it as a dikfer . . .

Maroon Saloon said:

---

disappointed in thread, no one ID it as a dikfer . . .

---

Man, we're slipping... it's definitely an Aou-duck

Sixdrakes said:

---

I combed thru some of the reported long tail duck sightings in TX over the years. Its interesting to note that I didn't see a single drake. Maybe a couple that look like hens are actually immature drakes.

---

See the first response. Of all the sea ducks that have made an appearance in the area, I only know of one common eider that was mature. I've shot a number of surf scooters on Toledo bend and trinity bay and they're always single immature birds. That's probably why theyre lost and here to start with.

Still there. Just saw it.

I saw a small flock of them a few years ago in Greenville, on a small city pond. About had a wreck when I saw them, as I knew that they are very rare to see here. Wish I could have gotten a pic, came back a while later and they were gone.