I saw a very small black duck at Greenlake that looked very much like a Lesser Scaup but with some interesting differences:

- black beak (same color as its head feathers) and dark eye; photos of Lesser Scaup show a silvery/dark gray beak.
- dark back, more like a Tufted Duck than a Scaup, but with low pale sidewalls like a Scaup.
- White vertical stripe on each side near the tail--if it were a gull I'd say "tertial crescent" (or something like that)
- back-of-head peak like a Lesser Scaup

Size: between P-B Grebe and Gadwall size. It was hanging with 2 Gadwalls and kept approaching them ("Are you my mother?"). They ignored it.

Any ideas, other than "get a camera!"?

Thank you! And happy Thanksgiving!

Brenda Burnett

Seattle

beaknbird at hotmail dot com



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