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Posted by Orion Weldon on 17:50:10 11/02/05
In Reply to: Cinnamon Teal posted by Trey Mitchell
First off I don't think this bird immediately fits neatly into any species. It is definitely at least part teal. Now let s try to figure out whether it is a Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, or Hybrid Teal Shoveler. I have not seen the additional photos that Trey has.
Starting from where Rock Jetty left off, the feather pattern of the flanks does not seem to match either teal or shoveler. There isn't dark enough, meaning there isn't enough scalloping. The white spot at the base of the bill, the strong eye-line, and the at least partial ring at the top of the eye suggest Blue-winged Teal. Now, I know that the Cinnamon Teal shares these characteristics but they are much less pronounced on that bird. The eye-ring could be a little stronger but in my opinion the face pattern is too bold for Cinnamon. Also the primaries seems too be a little sharp and long for Cinnamon; although it s almost silly to try to interpret this from these photos.
Now the tail, even from these photos I think that you can tell that the outer edging of the tail is white or whitish. In my experience Blue-winged Teal can have some white edging but it seems to be limited to the sides and base of the outer retrices. On this bird the whole outer edge appears to be whitish. This is along with the general aberrant plumage of the bird is the only evidence I see for a hybrid. From these pictures everything about the head and bill seems correct for a female/juvenile male Blue-winged Teal; and I don't think it is a male because it doesn't seem to have the elongated tertials that I think would be present at this time.
If one can determine from the field or from additional photos that size and bill are intermediate between the two species and that the white on the tail is in fact part of the feathers then I would believe a female Blue-winged Teal X Northern Shoveler. Otherwise, I think it is an aberrant plumaged female Blue-winged Teal.
Orion
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Yesterday afternoon (Monday) Toe (Roberto Torres) called me about a duck at Cutler Wetland
: that wasn't a Shoveler but had a spatula shaped bill. The bird was noticeably
: smaller than the Shovelers. I met him there that evening but the light was poor and the bird was about 150 yards away. So we met there again this morning to get a better look and some photos.
:
As you can see in the photo above the closest bird is smaller than the
: Shovelers although the bill is spatular.
: 
: 
Bird on right is a Shoveler the bird on the left is we think a Cinnamon Teal.
: (female or young male)
: 
: 
The above photos shows the dark head and cinnamon color with the dark bill.
: 
The photos do not show the all the detail that was observed with a spotting
: scope. The photos above were taken from about 75 yard away from the subject.
We are looking for input, but have concluded this to be a Cinnamon Teal. We
: have seen the bird for two days now and it is always with the Shovelers. It
: definitely stands out as different than the Blue-wing Teal and it is too small
: to be a Shoveler.
I hope to get better photos of the bird, but the ducks at Cutler Wetland are
: very shy and am not sure that I will be able to accomplish this with the
: equipment that I have.
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