ML210625701

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

At times the head color was purplish but most times seemed green. The whole time while observing the bird it was actively feeding so head shape was variable. Most times the head seemed rounded but at certain times it was notched at the back of the head. Both of these items point to Greater Scaup. The thing that convinced me of Lesser was the size of the nail on the bill. The nail was petite in size and nowhere near the size I would expect on a Greater Scaup. See the fourth photo for image of nail. I believe plumage is a lot more variable than hard parts. Thus I think the nail size is a more important factor in this ID. Although I didn't get a photo of the scaup directly facing the camera, I think the bird's jowls appear slim. To quote Tony Luekering "Head thickness and jowls:In my opinion, this is one of the most useful characters, as it is mostly dependent upon bone structure rather than how the plumage is held. It is also relatively easily discerned with reasonable views. By “jowl,” I mean that portion of the head that, in a head-on view, extends outward below the eyes to form a bulge. Greater Scaup has a wide head (side to side) while Lesser Scaup sports a narrow head. This difference is accentuated by the strong jowls exhibited by Greater Scaup, with Lesser’s jowls being much less noticeable."

Technical information

Model

DC-ZS70

ISO

320

Focal length

129 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.4

Shutter speed

1/125 sec

Dimensions

5184 pixels x 3888 pixels

Original file size

5.35 MB