The following is a description of a mystery small diving duck sighted
3/23/97, in Dungeness Bay, Dungeness, WA, offshore of the 3 Crabs
Restaurant. This site is a shallow saltwater bay on the south side of
the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Vancouver Island from the
Olympic Peninsula. The bird typically stayed 100-300 meters offshore,
swimming with Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Surf Scoters, Greater
Scaups, and "Olympic Gulls" (as we locally call W. X Glaucous-winged
hybrids).

Sighted by Bob Boekelheide, Bob Norton, Jack and Pat Fletcher, Gene
Kridler, Paul Conklin, and Ruth Merryman. Optics included various binos
and spotting scopes, including 60X Questar. Light excellent, sunny with
winds 10-15 knots.

We observed the duck for close to two hours, from 10:30-12:15, as it dove
repeatedly, preened, and interacted with other ducks also present
(primarily C. Goldeneyes and Buffleheads).

Description:
Size: Slightly larger than Bufflehead, slightly smaller than C.
Goldeneye, both present.

General Jizz: Appeared much like a _Bucephala_, both in head and body
shape, general coloration, and behavior.

Head: The overall appearance was a striking white face outlined by a
strip of glossy iridescent green over the top of the head. Sides of
face, entire neck, and throat very white. Forehead, crown, and back of
head dark iridescent green. The separation between the dark crown and
white face led from the bill upwards past the front edge of the eye,
around the edge of the crown, to the lower back of the head. The dark on
the forehead and crown clearly just touched the leading and upper edge of
the eye, but did not surround the eye. The dark also appeared to
slightly surround the base of the lower mandible. The white face was
much more extensive than the white on a male Bufflehead's face, somewhat
reminiscent of the facial pattern of a basic plumage Kittlitz's Murrelet,
as if outlining the outer edge of the face. This pattern was also
slightly reminiscent of the dark pattern on the head of a female Smew,
but the dark plumage was clearly iridescent green in color, like the
green on a C. Goldeneye male's head. The dark pattern on the back of the
head showed a slight v-shaped indentation into the white of the face,
about the level of the ear coverts. The head shape was closest to C.
Goldeneye, somewhat arched on top and not overtly rounded like a
Bufflehead male's head. The forehead was about as steep as a male C.
Goldeneye's forehead, not as steep as a Barrow's Goldeneye.

Bill: All dark, depressed, fairly short and small, but proportional to
the bird's head. The bill was much more the size and shape of the C.
Goldeneyes' bills nearby, less like the Buffleheads'. The culmen was
curved throughout, without any discernible humps or ceres.

Eyes: Appeared dark, although we think we saw a hint of orange-red in the
scales surrounding the eye or possibly in the iris itself. It was too
far to see this character well. The eye was definitely not yellow or
golden.

Neck and upper breast: Pure white. Initially, we thought that the dark
on the back of the head extended all the way to the dark on the back, but
when the bird stretched its neck it showed that the dark on the back of
the head stopped before reaching the back. The white on the sides of the
neck consequently continued around to the lower back of the neck, like a
C. Goldeneye.

Breast and underparts: Pure white, with no markings. We saw the bird
stretch out of the water a couple times; when it did, it appeared to be
very slightly dingier on its belly, but still very white.

Flanks: Very white, similar to male Buffleheads also present. A very
thin black line extended along the edge of the upper wing coverts, also
similar to a male Bufflehead.

Back and wings: Dark black, extending all the way to the tail, similar to
male Bufflehead. No discernable white markings in the wing coverts, as
found on swimming male C. Goldeneyes present with the bird. The one time
we briefly saw the bird flap its wings, it appeared to have a white,
unbroken patch in the secondaries or secondary coverts.

Rear end: The bird was dark below the tail behind the feet, to at least
the water line, as found in male Goldeneyes.

Tail: Dark and quite large. This showed especially when the bird dove,
when it flared its tail. We commented several times that the tail was
proportionately big enough for a stiff-tailed duck, but the bird held its
tail up above the water only a couple times, very briefly.

Feet: Orange, visible when the bird dove.

Behavior: For most of our observation, the bird dove repeatedly,
difficult to observe for longer than 5-15 seconds each time at the
surface. Dives ranged from very short, disappearing for a few seconds,
to upwards of one minute or more, similar to both the Buffleheads and
Goldeneyes present. It also infrequently sat for a few minutes at the
surface, either preening or interacting with other small ducks. It
chased female C. Goldeneyes several times, chased a male Bufflehead at
least once, and was chased by a male C. Goldeneye at least once. It also
hunched its back and cocked its head back and forth several times, in a
breeding display similar to that done by male C. Goldeneyes also present.

Possible identification: We think this is a likely hybrid, possibly C.
Goldeneye X Bufflehead or, more remotely, C. Goldeneye X Smew. The face
pattern excludes all ducks we know, plus excludes all ducks found in a
search of virtually all N.A. field guides and several international field
guides (Bellrose's _Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America_, Madge and
Burn's _Waterfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans
of the World_, and Scott's _Waterfowl of the World_). Common Goldeneye X
Smew hybrid is mentioned in Cramp and Simmons (1977, _The Birds of the
Western Palearctic_. Vol. 1, Oxford U. Press), which raises this
possibility. The bird's head pattern vaguely suggests the placement of
dark and light on the head of a female Smew, but this is a bit of a
stretch.

Does anyone have any input into the possible identification of this bird?
Specifically, are there records of C. Goldeneye X Bufflehead hybrids,
and what do they look like? How about Goldeneye X Smew hybrids? Might
study skins exist that are similar to this description? Or could it be
something else that we are overlooking?

Thank you for your help.

Bob Boekelheide and Bob Norton
Sequim, WA