There were more ducks on Pine Lake than Leighton Moss today and spotted this one in middle of the lake; sorry its only a record shot being so far away but methinks enough to either confirm or correct ID, there have been reports of one or even two around, drakes I think ? Thanks in advance .
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Regards, Hazel
Yep, It's a young female Scaup; nice chunky bill with black restricted to the 'nail' at the tip, very extensive pale around the 'face', rounded nape with no hint of a tuft, rather uniform upperparts and flanks, pale patch on the earcoverts as a supporting feature. Spot on!
thanks for ID help Melodious, that's a great help with all the useful ID tips, much appreciated both of you.
You are very welcome and hope it was worth the freezing discomfort you went through!
my frostbite certainly feels better now that you've confirmed a Scaup; now I have to locate a drake as I'm sure there was one mentioned somewhere in this area of Pine Lake !!
Reckon you are spot on Hazel,looks very similar to the one we had the other day on our local reserve,our best bird to date this year
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
cheers Pete, I'll have to double check in the morning and see if there is another Scaup as I'm sure someone mentioned two and also mention of a young drake perhaps. Just need to know what i'm looking for so back to the Collins App !!
Congratulations, Hazel. I hadn't realised but apparently there are Greater and Lesser Scaup, yours is a female Greater Scaup as others have stated. Here are the links from Cornell's All About Birds site: Lesser: www.allaboutbirds.org/.../ and Greater: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Scaup/ .
Kind regards, Ann
Keep at it! My two worst ones were an exceptionally cold November night (around -5) in nothing but a sleeping bag while trying to catch up with a Green Heron (I succeeded!) and really coming close after being unable to find my sleeping gear in the dark and having to endure a very cold night in a T-shirt in a Scottish glen during an attempt to see Capercallie (I failed!). I can laugh about both events.......many years later!
Ah, now I am confused. Looking at snaps on Surfbirds, the two seem id'd in reverse unless they are wrongly identified in some of the photos. Any thoughts anyone?!
Not quite sure what you mean there, GB.