ML620081843
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Please see some poor quality distant pictures attached. The bird was out very close to the middle of the lake area where the dead big branch sticking out of a dry spot in the lake that supports the hanging out of species like Great Blue Herons and the recent throng of Forster's Terns. The bird obviously a male Blue-winged Teal was a little north of the big branch by about 5 to 10 feet. At my look out spot at the big Oak Tree over close to Rangeland Rd, I could see the Teal clearly with my binoculars. I was having a devil of a time, however, trying to get my camera to focus on the water level where the Teal was at. My camera kept wanting to focus on the branch sticking out of the lake and the much bigger birds hanging out on it.Thankfully, it does look like I got at least a few pictures That are of good enough quality to be diagnostic. The bird in question was a small compact duck that to me was obviously an adult male in breeding plumage. While its head was relatively small, its bill was very dark all dark gray/black looking, while being fairly long and thick. The bird had a sloping forehead and a rounded crown. The bird had a solid and fairly thick white crescent from the base of the bill, extending back close to, but not including the dark eye, with the rest of the head being a dark blue. Nearly all of the Duck's body was a Buffy brown with dark dot like spots on most of it. There was also a modest wide side patch back near the side where the tail starts. The bird never went toward the big branch which would have made it easier for my camera to pick it up, and unfortunately instead meandered north and got behind the reeds after a few minutes.
Technical information
- Dimensions
- 398 pixels x 345 pixels
- Original file size
- 160.73 KB