31st December 2014
I managed an hour or so at Whitlingham this afternoon to see what the cold weather had brought. The Little Broad was more than half frozen, although the unfrozen bit still contained Shoveler, Gadwall and a Little Grebe. There were good numbers of Tufted Ducks on the Great Broad, but the main bird of interest was a hybrid duck that Justin had found during the morning. It appears to be a Eurasian Wigeon x Mallard hybrid [This is an edit - originally I suggested Eurasian x American Wigeon] although I'm open to ideas if anyone thinks differently. It is an escape (rings were visible when it was out of the water) which is a shame, but nevermind. A walk back along the south shore of the Little Broad failed to provide any Water Rails, leaving them as 'heard only' for the patch year list. Best wishes to everyone for the new year.
Wigeon / Teal hybrid?
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I've tried to compare pictures of hybrids involving Wigeon, Teal, American Wigeon & Chiloe Wigeon and the yellow/green head pattern comes up a lot. I would perhaps expect the bill to be smaller if Teal was involved. Hopefully it stays for better photos.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a wigeon x mallard with that uniformely colored bluegrey bill. No other combination would produce this bill with that head pattern (american wigeon x mallard can be close though)
ReplyDeleteExcellent, thanks very much for the explanation.
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