Dear Tweeters,

Yesterday at about five in the afternoon, Howard
Armstrong and I saw PARASITIC JAEGER at the Samish
Island Public Beach (the little DNR park). However,
the most interesting bird was an odd duck.

It appeared to be an Aythya, at first glance like a
female Ring-necked Duck. However, it was more the
color tone of a female Redhead. Of over 1400
observations at this location, the only Aythya species
that I have ever recorded is the Greater Scaup, so
this location is not much of a hotspot for bird in
this genus.

Neil and Carleen Zimmerman (spelling?) also had a look
at the duck; no one had a camera.

Here is what I wrote in my field notes:

*************************

Odd female-like duck

Grey wingbar

Greyish black, plain bill

Pale patch at base of bill

White spectacle around eye

Greyish whitish brownish sides

Less than Surf Scoter in size [much smaller than WW
Scoter]

[I sketched the head shape and other features several
times; profile all wrong for Canvasback; not right for
Ring-necked Duck or Scaup; somewhat like that of
Redhead, but not right for that, either--Howard and I
had observed a female Redhead in Hamilton a number of
times the week before]

Pale forehead connects to pale area at bill base

Dull brown crown and head-nape

When closes eye, whole eye appears white [because of
the white spectacle, it makes for a large, obvious
"white eye" when bird closes eye]

Dark brown tail; mottled undertail with brownish and
paler color [sketched]

Mantle darker brown than flanks

Suggestion of pale arc going behind eye

A bit of carker brownish projects up onto whitish chin
(below bill) from the brown breast

*********************

This morning I looked in some bird books. I was taken
aback when I checked page 55 of "Birds of Europe" by
Mullarney et al. The bird Howard and I saw was
virtually identical to the juvenile Common Pochard,
left-most picture that is labelled "browner than adult
female." The only differences I can see between the
bird we saw and this picture are that our bird had a
small pale area on the forehead, connecting to the
pale areas at the base of the bill, and the tiny area
of brownish projecting up onto the white chin-upper
neck, a feature I saw only once when the bird
stretched.

Please, somebody go photograph this duck! It was
paddling calmly back and forth, not too far out, when
the tide was coming in and there was little beach for
us to stand on.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch





Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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