ML93594791

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***Mega hybrid found by Nate Marchessault on 12/20/2017. MRW and SMW secured photos of this bird's spread upperwing, which is the first for this hybrid pairing in eBird. I was unable to find other spreadwing photos on a live bird elsewhere, although a specimen can be seen here- http://hybridduck.blogspot.com/p/hybrid-gallery.html. Observed in the eastern pond, associating partly with Green-winged Teal and partly with Gadwall. An ideally superb combination of Green-winged Teal and Gadwall plumage on one duck. The head was more teal-like, although the front of the face was pale as in Gadwall. The body was more Gadwall-like overall, except with a somewhat more diffusely spotted breast. There was no hint of a vertical stripe on the breast as in Green-winged Teal. Curiously, the neck had a black line between the rufous head and gray lower neck, a characteristic not present in either parent species. The spread upperwing was a wonderful mix of the two species. The rufous on the wing was restricted to the greater coverts. The speculum was dark except for a hint of dark blue-green on the very proximal secondaries.The innermost part of the speculum contained a couple white secondaries.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

100

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

1015 pixels x 677 pixels

Original file size

457.91 KB