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Posted by Rock Jetty on 09:53:34 11/02/05
In Reply to: Cinnamon Teal posted by Trey Mitchell
I believe this one deserves a closer look. John is right about the tail features. Out of the possible choices, the Northern Shoveler is the only one with white outer tail feathers. But for me, there are three problems here: First, I can't decide whether the "light-colored" outer tail feathers of this duck are actually white, or just look that way due to lighting conditions. Second, the bill is just not right even for a juvenile Northern Shoveler, both in size and in coloration. Third, this duck is definitely smaller than the surrounding shovelers. Trey had sent me additional photos that help strengthen these observations, I would encourage others to request these from him. This does NOT mean that I am convinced this is a Cinnamon Teal, I don't think we should be hasty about that decision. If you look at the pattern of the flank feathers you see that they are dark-centered with buffy edges, a pattern characteristic of all teal and Northern Shoveler. The edges on shovelers are broader and this shows on the known shovelers next to the bird in question. I've also noticed the subject's belly and flanks have a "warmer", less pronounced pattern. We can't completely rule out the possiblity of juvenile Blue-winged Teal (they lack the characteristic white at the base of the bill at that stage in their lives) and we can't rule out the possibility of a hybrid (this one's going to be stronger if those tail feathers are white, in my opinion). Again this is all based on the photos, I have yet to see the duck.
I call upon the waterfowl experts on this one, hunters or not. Maybe Trey, or anyone else, can capture the bird in flight, or take close-up photos of the tail feathers to see if they are white or not. I'm daffled, I mean baffled.
Cheers,
RJ
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