Subject: [Tweeters] Fill today
Date: Jul 11 11:21:09 2012
From: Connie Sidles - constancesidles at gmail.com


Hey tweets, Now comes the season of obscurity, when the avian males of
spring shed their bright plumage and lay low, while the females skulk
to protect their babies. Male dabbling ducks become especially
inconspicuous at this time of year, molting their breeding plumage
into the far more camouflaged scheme of the females.

Among the most obscure of all our dabblers is the female (and eclipse-
male) Blue-winged Teal. These ducks look so similar to their cousin
the Cinnamon Teal that it's almost impossible to tell them apart .

We've had a steady increase of Cinnamon Teal pairs at the Fill for the
past several years, culminating in a population explosion so large now
that nearly every pond has hosted at least one pair since spring. So
whenever I see a black-billed, largish teal at the Fill, I usually
just assume it's a Cinnamon.

Until this year. This year, a pair of Blue-winged Teals hung out on
Main Pond well past their usual migration time. I hoped they would
stay to breed, and now I think they have. This morning, a female teal
appeared with six babies skittering all around her. I studied her very
carefully because she looked different from the Cinnamon Teals I have
been watching for weeks now. Her head is stripier and paler overall
than the Cinnamon Teals. Her bill doesn't have the shoveler-like
structure of the Cinnamon Teal, but is shorter. It's also less ridge-y
at the gape.

If you want to drive yourself crazy, go have a look and see what you
think. Be careful, though! There are at least two juvenile Cinnamon
Teals that have been hanging out on Main Pond, as well as a male in
somewhat breeding plumage, and today a Green-winged Teal too.

Also present today: Least Sandpiper (fall is here!), the inevitable
juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds, and two Virginia Rails who seem to
think spring is in the air down at the curly willow tree south of Main
Pond. They appeared to be courting each other. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com


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