Thanks for the further comments, Scott. I hadn't seen your photos
when you originally posted. Male Australian Shovelers have mostly
gray heads, not too different from Blue-winged Teals, so I think the
dark green head eliminates that species. To me, mature male
Australian Shovelers look somewhat like a phase that Northern
Shovelers pass through on their way to maturity. The bill looks a bit
small for a Northern Shoveler, as you say, and I think your call of a
hybrid Northern Shoveler x Cinnamon Teal is right on the mark. As the
bird seems fully mature, and the placement of the white face mark is
somewhat different from that of either Australian Shoveler or Blue-
winged Teal. I think that mark is something aberrant, perhaps brought
out by the hybridization. Neat bird!

Dennis

On Dec 7, 2008, at 12:01 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 20:53:13 -0800
> From: "Scott Carpenter" <slcarpenter at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield Interesting Shoveler
> To: Tweeters <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID:
> <a4fe29340812062053q37fb9f80g9fd58c0321d15954 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Thank you, Dennis, for your thoughtful comments. It appears I may
> have
> jumped the gun on the guess of Blue-winged Teal genes.
>
> I did not realize that Northern Shovelers could have white facial
> crescents
> as extensive as the one I saw, especially when they have fully
> green heads.
> Unfortunately, I have never seen in person (or even an illustration
> or photo
> of) a Northern Shoveler with such a bold white facial crescent and
> a fully
> green head. The facial crescent on the bird I saw is consistent
> with photos
> I'm finding online for Australian Shoveler. I'm not suggesting
> this bird is
> an Australian Shoveler, though -- just using that as a reference.
>
> Some things to keep in mind about the bird at Ridgefield:
>
> - It is about the same size as nearby Cinnamon Teal. I believe
> Northern
> Shovelers should be about 17-18% bigger than Cinnamon Teal.
> - It has a reddish breast
> - Its bill appears to be smaller than the bills of nearby Northern
> Shovelers, and seems to be slightly larger than the bills of nearby
> Cinnamon
> Teal (although it is somewhat hard to discern at the distances from
> which I
> have observed it)
> - It has a white hip patch, but the hip patch appears to have a slight
> reddish tint/wash
> - Its head is green like a Northern Shoveler, with a yellow eye like a
> Northern Shoveler
> - all of my observations are based on views through a scope at ~
> 30-60x,
> which leaves a lot to be desired, so it is possible my impressions
> are not
> entirely accurate, due to errors in judgement of size, inability to
> discern
> fine plumage details, etc.
>
> So perhaps this bird is just an aberrant Northern Shoveler, or a
> Northern
> Shoveler x Cinnamon Teal.
>
> The original photos I took of this bird are online at:
> http://www.westerngrebe.com/anas_hybrid/
>
> When I saw the bird again on Decemberr 4, the color of the breast
> appeared
> much darker than what appears in the photos above. Through my
> scope at
> about 40x, the breast of the bird was indistinguishable from the
> nearby
> Cinnamon Teal. It was a much brighter day, though, with direct
> sunlight on
> the bird. The photos were taken under overcast conditions.
>
> Scott Carpenter
> Portland, Oregon

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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