This morning (11/11/14) there was a female Aythya on our pond in western Lewis County that I initially took for a female Lesser Scaup. She had a prominent white patch surrounding the base of the bill and a conspicuous "top knot." But the bill was, oddly, mostly dark without strong patterning (a bit lighter towards the base), and there were traces of an eyering and thin postocular stripe. When she flushed, the wing stripe was gray, definitely not white in any portion of it, possibly a bit lighter on the secondaries. I did not have my camera handy, which is unfortunate as she was first spotted only about 10 m away in perfect light associating with the two feral male Mallards that live in the area (and who court each other and even mount each other; different story).
So my thoughts are that this was probably a Lesser Scaup X Ring- necked Duck. Every character except the bill coloration was intermediate between these two species; not sure what to make of the darkish weakly-patterned bill.
Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN
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