ML647495207

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Apparent female, though I don't know exactly how an immature male would look. Resting by herself on a partially submerged piece of wood along the Vermont bank. With her head tucked in, she would have been easy to pass off as a female Mallard, but somehow her color palette looked a little different: maybe a bit colder gray-brown tones, or maybe greater contrast between the darker head and lighter breast, or greater contrast between the darker back and lighter sides, or different markings on her sides. I also thought she looked small, but size was difficult to judge through the scope with no other birds around. Fortunately, she finally took out her head, showing her dark cap, eye-line, and bill, and then preened and stretched her wings, showing her green speculum with a buffy stripe on the leading edge. I was very lucky to see those field marks, given how still she stayed for most of the time, and it felt great to have my suspicions about this bird confirmed.