[texbirds] Hybrid male Ring-necked Duck X Lesser Scaup - Austin
- From: Eric Carpenter <ecarpe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:07:29 -0600
I spent some time around Longhorn Dam in Austin today (11 January
2013) at lunch time and came away with a "lifer" of sorts. There is
often a wintering congregation of scaup (mostly Lessers, sometimes a
couple Greaters included) below the dam and as I scanned through them
today, I came across this guy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecarpe/sets/72157632499707964/
I decided it was a scaup X Ring-necked Duck hybrid and presumed that
the scaup parentage was from a Lesser, even with the greenish head
sheen, given the extensive overlap of their breeding ranges (vs. very
little overlap with Greater & Ring-necked Duck, but who knows!).
Characteristics that seem to be from Ring-necked parentage were: the
white "ring" on the bill, and the darker mantle (though not as dark as
full-blooded RNDU). Characteristics that seem to be from a scaup
parentage were: head sheen was at every angle a greenish color, no
obvious white outline to base of bill, and the flanks were white (not
grey). The head-shape sometimes seemed crested/sloped like a RNDU but
also somewhat matched up what you might see with a LESC.
--
Eric Carpenter
Austin
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- » [texbirds] Hybrid male Ring-necked Duck X Lesser Scaup - Austin - Eric Carpenter
