cobal Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 1 - This Mallard looks a bit off - is he just transitioning? 2 - Is this a juvenile Gannet? 3 - Which Gull? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millipede Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 Quote 1 - This Mallard looks a bit off - is he just transitioning? If the picture was from late summer or something, perhaps. If it's a recent photo then no, it's probably a hybrid of some sort. Looks mostly mallard but that's not a normal look for this time of year. I'll let someone else get the others. Second one looks gannet-ish but I think there are other birds, some of the boobies I believe, that might looks similar in flight and I don't know them well or feel like pulling out my field guide to compare at the moment... still waking up. HA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobal Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 Photo was taken last weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phalarope713 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 1. Male Mallard x American Black Duck with what appears to be a pure American Black Duck (front right). 2. Northern Gannet 3. Pass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millipede Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 58 minutes ago, Phalarope713 said: 1. Male Mallard x American Black Duck with what appears to be a pure American Black Duck (front right). I thought the one on the right was an american black duck... and considered that particular hybrid possibility because of it... but, I don't know what I'd be looking for to point to that. The mallard part is obvious in that bird but what do you see that pinpoints it's crossed with american black duck? Just curious? I saw a mallard x cinnamon teal once that was pretty easy to distinguish... teal size, male cinnamon teal color body, and a green head. Some hybrids aren't so kind with clues, or I'm just not good at picking them up... or, both. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phalarope713 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 9 minutes ago, millipede said: I thought the one on the right was an american black duck... and considered that particular hybrid possibility because of it... but, I don't know what I'd be looking for to point to that. The mallard part is obvious in that bird but what do you see that pinpoints it's crossed with american black duck? Just curious? I saw a mallard x cinnamon teal once that was pretty easy to distinguish... teal size, male cinnamon teal color body, and a green head. Some hybrids aren't so kind with clues, or I'm just not good at picking them up... or, both. 🙂 The American Black Duck looks pure because of the very dark body plumage, dusky olive bill, and solid dark brown tail and undertail coverts. A hybrid would have noticeable white in the tail, and would probably show curved tail feathers. The primary feature that points to the leftmost bird being a hybrid is the broad green stripe on the top of the head and the pale tan lower half (ie. bimaculated head pattern). Also, the bird lacks the white neck ring of a male Mallard and the sides have a brownish wash, rather than being gray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 1 - goofy Mallard -- I don't really see any American Black Duck in the bird 2 - immature Northern Gannet (certainly not a juvenile) 3 - Lesser Black-backed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millipede Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 16 minutes ago, Phalarope713 said: The primary feature that points to the leftmost bird being a hybrid is I wasn't questioning how to tell it was a hybrid, just how a person could tell what kind of hybrid. As I said, some birds show enough ID marks that you can pick out more than one species. This one I can tell is mallard x something but I don't see anything to say what that something is. Some birds don't show their lineage very well... and some traits could be there that I simply couldn't pick up, which is why I question things... so if there IS something there to see, I might learn to see it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobal Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 When do you use the word juvenile versus immature? Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 12 minutes ago, cobal said: When do you use the word juvenile versus immature? Just curious. Funny you should ask. I had the same question. Fortunately, @Tony Leukering just posted this: https://cobirds.org/CFO/ColoradoBirds/InTheScope/87.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobal Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinHood Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 On 2/5/2020 at 12:29 PM, Tony Leukering said: goofy Mallard This should definitely be a sub-species in eBird, I would be using it a lot. (Sorry about the slow response, fighting off this bug that is doing the rounds, yesterday was not a fun day). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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