I was reading something Seymour posted this evening, when my dad looked over my shoulder and said, "nice duck."
I replied confidently, "Oh, that's a Goldeneye."
Then I looked again, and thought maybe it wasn't a Goldeneye, since it doesn't seem to have (er...) a golden eye.
Then I thought maybe it was a funny looking Tufty.
Then I remembered it belonged to Seymouraves, and it could just as well be a lesser-spotted Macedonian duck-faced warbler (last seen in Britain in 1964, in an obscure bit of Norfolk).
Then I just felt really stupid.
Please could somebody put me out of my misery (maybe even Seymour, if you haven't gone to Greece yet)?
BB
P.S. Naturally my dad lost interest shortly after "nice duck" - he's more of an internet dating sort of guy!
I haven't got a clue really but I don't think it's a golden eye or a tufty though. I have been an admirer of that duck for several weeks now...being a bit of a duck fan. Would also like to know what it is. Possibly some sort of scaup...but not the usual variety.
PS. Don't google 'rare duck' by the way...unless you want cooking tips !
clare b said: PS. Don't google 'rare duck' by the way...unless you want cooking tips !
:-))
Andy
Seriously thinking about trying harder!
LOL Bella - that is the thing with google you never know what answer you will get to a perfectly ordinary question.
I think it may be a 'Goldeneye'! at a guess here {hides incase it is wrong}
Regards
Kathy and Dave
It's a female Harlequin Duck :) Lives in Iceland, Greenland and elsewhere in the Arctic. About 14 British records.
My blog: http://mazzaswildside.blogspot.co.uk/
My Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/124028194@N04/
Hi aiki
Now that is something I did not expect
Lovely name for a lovley duck
No doubt Seymour will tell us the story of his travels and tell us where the photos was taken
aiki said:It's a female Harlequin Duck :) Lives in Iceland, Greenland and elsewhere in the Arctic. About 14 British records.
Don't know why he didn't choose the male, it's much more colourful. Here's a pair I photographed in Iceland last summer.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
aiki said: It's a female Harlequin Duck :) Lives in Iceland, Greenland and elsewhere in the Arctic. About 14 British records.
So I can be forgiven for not recognising her then. Thank you.
And thanks for the photo, TeeJay. The male is definitely more colourful, but the female has a certain muted charm...
Maybe it's cos all the long-staying mainland UK records since the 1960s (ie since Seymour has been birding) have been females :)
aiki said: Maybe it's cos all the long-staying mainland UK records since the 1960s (ie since Seymour has been birding) have been females :)
That's true... most 'megas' in UK are females or immatures, like the sib rubythroat(actually, there's been one striking male but it was scared away by twitchers....)
Also 75% of all smews in UK seems to be redheads :)
'Dip a dee dah, dip a dee ay, we're not seeing any birds to-day...'
Darcy N said: Maybe it's cos all the long-staying mainland UK records since the 1960s (ie since Seymour has been birding) have been females :)
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Juveniles are much likelier to migrate the wrong way than their more experienced parents!
75% redheads sounds about right - 25% adult males, 25% adult females, 25% first-winter males and 25% first-winter females :)