I must admit I looked at this bird a lot last night, meant to post but time got
away from me. At a glance sure looks like a good fit for Common on plumage. The
bill though, which seems to be the feature I'm most confident about what I'm
actually seeing, looks a lot better to me for Red-breasted on shape with a
fairly thin base, not heavy base tapering to a thin tip as in Common. Granted,
it's hard to be sure exactly what I'm seeing. I had intended to bring the
exposure and white down a little to see if there was any underlying darkness
which would be hard to see with the amount of overexposure. Red-breasted can
get pretty faded this time of year and look pretty much white below which would
be easily lost with a moderate amount of overexposure.
Hate to disagree with Dean, I'm still not really sure what I'd call this bird
based on just these photos, but would lean towards Red-breasted probably......
Just one opinion....
Michael ToddJackson, TN
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 2:34 PM, sparverius <sparverius@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Clearly a male Common Merganser. The plot thickens on this species' recent
breeding season occurrences in TN.
Dean EdwardsKnoxville, TN
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 25, 2017, at 10:56 AM, Gary Lanham <glanham@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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Found one more interesting photo of the merganser at Blyth Ferry yesterday.
This one shows the bird with its head twisted, revealing a white chin. But the
head in the prior photos seems to favor Red-breasted to some observers.
Comments, anyone? Forgot to mention in prior post: Bird was seen at 1311
hours yesterday, 24 JUN 2017. Rhea County birdPixie and Gary LanhamSignal Mtn,
Hamilton county
<Merganser_Rhea_20170624_007_Scrn.jpg>
