Hi Tweets,

Robert Taylor writes (or quotes):

>> The hunters were taking Lesser Scaup, Wigeon, Mallards. The folks keeping
>> records also mentioned that one of the Scaup seen earlier did not have
>> green or blue iridescence but a dark red.

Could be subadult male scaup. Subadult male scaup of either species develop
an overall rich warm chestnut coloration, most noticeable about now, just
prior to the emergence of their definitive male plumage. By now it's mostly
restricted to head and frontal shield, patchily on back and flanks, with the
underlying grey emerging, with some slow individuals still solid chestnut
brown. You can separate them from the very similar female scaup because
they've mostly lost the white feathering at the base of the bill.

>I would appreciate hearing people's sightings
>of Redheads in western Washington (western B.C.?, western Oregon?).

In Vancouver BC, Redhead (Aythya americana) is a rarity at any time, though
a regular one. Individuals typically arrive and leave either with the later
component of the Lesser Scaup (A. affinis) southbound migration/wintering
arrival and departure or that of Ring-necked Duck (A. collaris) on Lost
Lagoon and the Outer Pond at Iona Island, and will often stay well into
summer or even year-round at the latter location. Haven't figured out yet
which species they travel with. They show up sporadically at other
locations, but for a bird that's so common in the Interior as a breeder,
migrant and wintering resident, it's unusually scarce on the Inner Coast.

Over the long run, there seems to be no discernible pattern of sex-sorting
to their occurrence, though adult birds seem more likely to appear here than
immatures.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)