Hi all.
Encountered an odd duck this morning on a pond on Rd. 81 east of
Ellensburg. First for those not familar with it, directions: Go east on
the Vantage hwy and turn north on Rd. 81, the pond is on the right side,
its the largest pond on this stretch and is behind a gate with a
pulloff. This can also be accessed by taking the kittitas exit off of
I-90, going north through Kittitas and staying on Rd. 81.

The bird: A fairly large head and bill for an Aythya duck. A prominent
band of dark and white at the tip of the bill, the bill also seems quite
wide. The head at all angles always showed at least some greenish tints
to it. In the rear of the head was a small tuft, prominent and more than
a lesser scaup would show, but nothing of what a male Tufted Duck would
show, I would estimate the tuft of being maybe an inch long.
The back was very dark brown and a very clean cut contrast between the
dark back and the nearly immaculate white sides. I say nearly because
there was a couple of faint streaks, but these were likely feathers out
of place, as I only finally saw these in the scope and not in the bins.
The breast was also a very dark brown and a clear line of contrast
between it and the sides. The bird only showed part of its wing once,
but looked to have failry extensive white on the wing, due to the
limited view couldn't determine if the entire length of the wing
contained white or not.
I only have seen one Scaup X Tufted Duck hybrid before, a female, so
this is wy I'm saying likely. Any input would be welcome from those
people who do have experience with male hybrids. An interesting bird
anyhow.
Also in the pond was a male Cinnamon Teal and a pair of Greater Scaup.


Thanks and good birding.

Scott Downes
downess at cwu.edu
Ellensburg WA