Tweeters:

I did the same thing...dug out my old ornithology books. In Steve Herman's
*The Naturalist's Field Journal* there is a chapter called A Primer in Field
Ornithology. In that chapter, he says this about eclipse plumage:

*While _adult_ and _juvenal_ or _immature_ plumages say something about
sexual maturity, they do not make concise statements about it. Many species
have winter plumages that resemble the immature or female plumages. The
males of most duck species undergo a late summer postnuptial molt that
leaves them looking much like the females until late fall or winter; this is
called _eclipse_ plumage.*

Hope that provides some insight...maybe someone can help with the
Humphrey&Parkes designation.

Emily Teachout
eteachou at jdwhite.com
Portland, OR
----------
From: spitler at wkpowerlink.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Eclipse plumage???
Date: Tuesday, July 07, 1998 4:31PM

<<File Attachment: ENVELOPE.TXT>>
Hi All,
The discussion of plumage and molt terminology sent me scurrying off to
ornithology texts for more clarification. Everything was going along
swimmingly until I got to eclipse plumage. Ala Humphrey&Parkes is eclipse
definitive adult basic? Or something else?
Cheers
Gail Spitler
Johnsons Landing, BC
spitler at wkpowerlink.com