I stopped by Matthew's Beach this evening, to see the rafts of buffleheads
that a friend said gather there each night, and came across two birds that
I would guess are hybrids.

The first was larger than the mallards, by 3 or 4 inches in length. It
had a pink bill, pink eye (or perhaps black eye with pink/red skin around
the eye - the light was failing fast!), and the body markings were
remarkably like a snow goose. The legs and feet were yellow-orange. It
looked at first like a domestic goose, to me - it sort of had that shape.


The second was a black mallard. It had a typical male mallard-green
head, with a dark orange bill with a black tip. There was a white spot at
the base of the upper mandible. (On top, not on the side) It had a
black body with white spatches on the breast. The legs were gray. I
watched as it dabbled, and there was no white under the tail. The wings
were gray underneath. I think there might have been a small white spot on
the back of the head.

30 or so buffleheads sleeping in the small bay, along with hundreds of
wigeons.

Susan Collicott
camel at serv.net
Seattle, WA