Friday, February 12, 2016
Green-winged Teal hybrid
Seward, Alaska
I thought I had found the
first-of-year GREEN WINGED-TEAL on Tuesday. This is an unusually early date for
this species.
Yesterday, I finally took a
close look at my photos. To my surprise the drake had a large whitish patch at
the base of his long bill, and no apparent vertical bar on his side. Even the
head pattern was different. Even more unusual than I thought! A female duck also shared the little pond.
Dave Sonneborn suggested
maybe this was a Green-winged Teal x Mallard hybrid. It sure is an oddball!
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward, Alaska
Carol,
ReplyDeleteJust a shot in the dark, but maybe a hybrid with N. Shoveler?
Gary Lyon