ML41214421

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - X

Observation details

Field notes: Brighter orange bill and slightly less black on the face. Reviewer notes: "The bird in your photo is clearly not a pure Clark's Grebe as the eye is mostly surround above and on the sides by black feathering. A pure Clark's should have the eye completely surrounded by white feathering, thus making it stand out on the face. The fact that your bird appears to have a pretty orangish-yellow bill suggests to me it is a hybrid and likely F2+ backcross between a hybrid and a Western Grebe. It's plumage and head pattern strike me as pretty close to what a typical Western should show, with only the orange-yellow bill being atypical. In this case, I think the most logical way to list this bird would be to put it in as a "Clark's Grebe/Western Grebe, because I don't think there is enough evidence from your photo to identify it positively as a Western or a hybrid."

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

500

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

3600 pixels x 2282 pixels

Original file size

1.23 MB