Lesser Scaup - Aythya affinis
On November 21st 1994 (that is my birthday!) Jan Jongbloed discovered
at Veere (Zeeland) an Aythya-duck, which he thought was a
Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis, but he was not sure for 100%. Only
at December
2nd 1994 Rob Sponselee found it back and confirmed the bird was actually a Lesser
Scaup, the first for the Netherlands. The bird stayed at
Veere with several intervals
of absence till at least the first week of May 1995 (I saw it on December 3rd 1995).
Rumours went there was one male
escaped nearby, but that bird was according
to the owner not the same as this bird,
so this bird was accepted by the Dutch rarities committee.
24 November 1994, Veere Zld; © Tobi Koppejan.
11 December 1994, Veere Zld; © Arnoud van den Berg.
This record was accepted as the first record for the Netherlands.
A second one was seen briefly at Lelystad (Flevoland) on January 13th 1996
(cf Dutch Birding 18: 52 and 63-69, 1996).
Do you want to go to the main-index, the 1994-index or the next species, the Greater Yellowlegs?