Hi Tweets,

John is correct, at this time most experts agree that this does not appear
to be a SBDU.

At no point in time did I say that this 'was' a Spot-billed Duck (SBDU),
only that in some ways it appeared to be a SBDU. I sent the link to quite
a few experts who have actually seen these birds in more than one plumage.
The consensus is that it is interesting, and probably (maybe) has some
SBDU genes, but the bird also has a large Mallard (MALL) contingent of
genes. The band on the leg is probably tell-tale as this is not a type of
band that banders use, but rather one that those that raise ducks use. I
aplogize if anyone got the wrong idea here, but I felt that if this was a
first year SBDU it would be a shame not to put the word out and have
another that 'gat away',

John is correct, at this time most experts agree that this does not appear
to be a SBDU. Also John is correct that there are two sub-species. One
with the red bill spots, which is sedentary and does not migrate widely
(found typically in India and surrounding areas), and one that is
migratory which has been seen in Alaska and typically winters in Japan and
Korea. At this time the bird should not be considered a SBDU, at best it
should be cosidered a captive bred hybrid MALL x SBDU.

I am still trying to contact some experts in Japan and Korea who see these
birds in all plumages and see what they have to say, but I think the
verdict is out.

Sorry to get everyone in an uproar, but better to be safe than sorry.

Cheers

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA



> Hi all,
>
> I've been out of town and haven't been following this thread, so I'm not
> sure how much this has been covered, but the female duck shown at
> http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u75/junewild/ is a female Mallard or
> perhaps some kind of mix. Spot-billed Ducks have white tertials, a much
> more distinct yellow tip to the bill, no white (or perhaps very little
> white) bordering the speculum (white borders are visible in the photos
> provided), and a more distinct facial pattern than shown in these photos
> (in part, this distinctness is due to a paler ground color of the head).
> Also, I believe the body feathers of Spot-billed Duck are mostly dark with
> only a thin pale border, which gives the bird an appearance similiar to
> American Black or Mottled Duck. Another point to look for, but not shown
> in the photos is the region under the tail. This area is very dark, and
> the darkest part of the body, on Spot-billed Ducks, unlike Mallards.
>
> If searching the web for images of Spot-billed Duck, be aware that there
> are two subspecies. The western subspecies shows red spots at the base of
> the bill. The eastern subspecies, the one that has been recorded in
> Alaska, lacks these spots for which the species was named.
>
> A good photo of a Spot-billed can be found at
> http://www.tsuru-bird.net/waterfowl1/duck_spot-billed2.jpg. You can also
> go to the "North American Stop Press" page at Surfbirds
> (http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/display.cgi?gallery=gallery10),
> do a search for Spot-billed Duck, and see some very poor images of a
> Spot-billed Duck in Alaska that I took last spring.
>
> John Puschock
> Wedgwood, Seattle
> g_g_allin at hotmail.com
> http://www.birdtreks.com
>
> From: Scrubjay323 at aol.com
> Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:38:52 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Spot-billed Duck?
> To: VariedThrush at comcast.net; tweeters at u.washington.edu
> CC:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Patricia,
>
> Dennis & Bonnie Weeks and I spent from 10:00 to 11:30 or so today at
> Capitol Lake and did not see "Spot". We did see loads of other ducks
> including HOODED MERGANSERS and RUDDY DUCKS.
>
> The directions we got were pretty vague so we may not have concentrated
> on
> the right area. WE searched from Marathon Park to the freeway.
>
> Hopefully it will show up again and I can get a better handle on where to
> search.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Phil
> Kelley
> Lacey, WA
> scrubjay323 at aol.com
> 360-459-1499
>
> " We were few
> and they were many. Now we are many and they are
> few"
> Confucius
>
>
> Who's never won? Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
> http://biggestloser.msn.com/_______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>