ML549325851
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult Male - 3
Media notes
Wave action makes the middle bird look largest and the left bird smallest in this photo. Their order has not changed.
Observation details
The reported three scaup were still out on the middle of the lake, but difficult to speciate in the bins given the distance, low light, and choppy surface action. However, one turned into a Lesser, then maybe a second one, and I decided to wait and review photos before assigning identities. Photos later showed all three were Lesser. In the first photo, the peaky crown shape is evident in the center and right birds, but the leftmost scaup has its neck retracted and. is leaning slightly to his right, affecting the apparent crown and bill shapes. The second and third photos were added because they show how the wave action affects the apparent size of the birds without any change in the order of the trio. Comparative measurements of the length of the individuals is all the same (a Greater ought to be about 7% longer than a Lesser when measured). When the sun poked through briefly we detected a purplish sheen to the head color of all three birds. The head color is not a diagnostic field mark, but usually, in sunlight, a Greater Scaup male shows a greenish sheen instead. The series of photos of the scaups show than none of them consistently shows the flatter, slightly rounder-arced crown expected for a Greater.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM +1.4x
- ISO
- 1000
- Focal length
- 560 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/500 sec
- Dimensions
- 1662 pixels x 1108 pixels
- Original file size
- 211.18 KB