ML66906811

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Garganey, Arroyo Laguna, San Luis Obispo County, California, 2 Oct 1991, Tom M. Edell

Observation details

eclipse male seen from 0815-1000 under clear and calm conditions. Seen later by Greg Smith, John McDonald, and Karen Havlena. Present 2-13 Oct. Jim Royer and I stopped at Arroyo Laguna to quickly check the small lagoon. Initially there was nothing of interest, but as I scanned the area some teal dropped into view. I was immediately drawn to one of the birds because of the distinctive facial markings and commented to Jim something like "is that a Garganey." Jim commented back that it looked good for one. After returning to the car for my camera the following observations were made as we watched the bird feed, preen, and swim. It was with Cinnamon Teal, a Northern Pintail, and a Common Merganser. The head was rounder than a Cinnamon Teal and showed a dark cap. There was a rich warm supercilium, a dark eye stripe, a rich warm buff to orangish line below the eye stripe that included a loral spot, and another dark line below that that was sharp at the upper edge and diffused into the ear coverts below. Both dark stripes started from the base of the bill. The bill was smaller than the CITE and lacked the CITE spatulate appearance. The chin was a warm buff orangish color. Since the bird was either in the water or with its back to me I never saw the belly. The body plumage differed from the CITE in that the breast was strongly patterned with a warm orange-buff wash and the feathers of the flanks appeared broader than CITE and had a smudgy look. They were dark centered with light (gray?) edges compared to the CITE's cinnamon centers with dark outer and golden edges. At rest the scapulars and tertials were dark with distinct white edges. The wing had a green speculum with a fine white leading and trailing edge. The uper wing coverts had a gray patch, not the blue-gray of CITE and BWTE. Overall the bird was slightly smaller than the CITE. Photos from scanned slide film.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 60D

ISO

200

Focal length

60 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.0

Shutter speed

1/80 sec

Dimensions

1078 pixels x 647 pixels

Original file size

216.37 KB