We saw this small duck-sized bird swimming with a group of Canada geese on the Great Ouse at Ely, Cambridgeshire, on Monday January 3rd 2022. It does not look like a juvenile Canada goose, and not really like anything in the RSPB bird identifier, except possibly a ruddy duck. Would one be swimming with a group of Canada geese?
Hello, my friend saw this exact bird next to the river in Ely today. We believe it is a ruddy shelduck x Canada goose hybrid. We have also seen non hybrid ruddy shelduck here a few days ago.
I would say that the bird in your first photo is a female South African Shelduck (aka Cape Shelduck). Obviously. non-native so an escape from a collection. The Ruddy Shelduck in your second photo is also probably an escapee now living in the wild.
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Tony
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