ML376980751

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Initial ID as Greater Scaup, here are the first notes. Probably juvenile. Adult female would likely have more white on the face shield going around the top of the bill. Would also expect more grayish tones mixed in the body feathers especially on the back and more pronounced auricular patch for an adult. Plain gray bill with just the nail black, broad rounded head with no sign of peak, and rear of body sloping into the water with tail hardly visible seem to rule out other Aythya Changed to Aythya sp. at suggestion of ebird reviewers. I agree with them that this is not a perfect looking Greater Scaup. But I am suspicious of the amount of white in the frontal shield for a juvenile Tufted. I didn't think they had that much white as a Scaup except for the adult female Tufted. But adult female Tufted would have adult bill pattern among other things that I could latch onto. So the comparison should be between juvenile Scaup and juvenile Tufted and that is where I am currently stuck.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P900

Focal length

285 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

Dimensions

1440 pixels x 1080 pixels

Original file size

881.25 KB