My pelagic trip had already been cancelled for the day and it was no surprise either! Gale force north-westerly winds up to 80 km/h, rain bucketing down and temperatures in the mid teens - weather not really conducive to birding. But I had heard that the Tufted Duck had been resighted at Strandfontein Sewage Works. This is its 9th year in a row in the Western Cape with most sightings from Strandfontein and 2 of the 9 seasons at De Hoop Nature Reserve! Whilst this bird is still not officially on the SA list, there are strong arguments for this individual being a genuine vagrant and not an escapee. While being a regular wintering visitor to Chad, Nigeria and Ethiopia, vagrant Tufted Ducks have also been recorded in Tanzania and Malawi and it is conceivable that this bird is a reverse migrant which has settled into the normal Southern Pochard movements which apparently extend as far north as Kenya. Indeed, this bird could have been "collected" by Pochards in East Africa and they have remained together since. Previous investigations into the origin of the Strandfontein bird failed to turn up any wildfowl collectors who had lost a free flying Tufted Duck.

Anyway, as any serious birder would, I braved the horrible weather and headed off to Strandfontein.  It wasn't long before I located the Tufted Duck in amongst Southern Pochards and managed to get a couple of record shots of it. It also wasn't too long before the weather got the better of me and forced me to head back home. Now we just have to sit and wait to see what the List Committee decides to do with this one...