Rich Stanton Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan B Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 (edited) For some reason, I'm really struggling with this duck. I'm pretty sure it's a female Green-winged Teal. Edited November 21, 2022 by Aidan B 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 14 minutes ago, Aidan B said: For some reason, I'm really struggling with this duck. I'm pretty sure it's a female Green-winged Teal. Same! What about pintail? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton V Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 1 hour ago, IKLland said: Same! What about pintail? I like Pintail. Bill is too large, head too gently sloped to be GWTE in my opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinHood Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Agree this is a tough one and, strangely, GWTE or NOPI seem to be the best possibilities. I don't think it is an immature male Pintail and appears, at least to me, too dark or brown for a female (maybe the lighting or underexposed photo?). My first impression was Teal - I think the guide books may be misleading about the size of the bill for Green-winged, I've seen some large ones. I wonder if @Rich Stanton got an impression of overall size. I defer to the experts, maybe unidentifiable from these photos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Stanton Posted November 21, 2022 Author Share Posted November 21, 2022 (edited) I did not want to bias the group with all of my impressions, but this bird was smaller than a shoveler and larger than a Green-winged Teal, both of which were in the same patch of flooded timber as this bird. FWIW, I reported it as teal spp., in eBird, and is currently confirmed as such. It may not be identifiable to species, but it is late for Blue-winged, and the only records of Cinnamon Teal in my region and season have been unambiguous males. Edited November 21, 2022 by Rich Stanton fixed typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton V Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 I don’t think it’s a Spatula teal sp. because it doesn’t have any markings on its head or face. I would expect to see some dark eyelines and white around the eye on a Blue-winged or Cinnamon Teal, even in this lighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton V Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 If I’m seeing things correctly, I believe this bird’s upper wing coverts are actually exposed, and they are not blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 What about Mallard? Tail pattern matches. It could be one of those females with all dark bills. Just throwing that out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 1 hour ago, Avery said: What about Mallard? Tail pattern matches. It could be one of those females with all dark bills. Just throwing that out there. Something about the facial pattern doesn’t make me think Mallard. Maybe it’s too plain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Structurally, I'd probably call this a GWTE. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birds are cool Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 I am on the GWTE team Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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