Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bloom-beacon!mintaka!oliveb!oliven!mjm From: mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: What is this bird?? Message-ID: <48335@oliveb.olivetti.com> Date: 23 Sep 89 00:04:35 GMT References: <3791@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <48214@oliveb.olivetti.com> <3215@nmtsun.nmt.edu> Sender: news@oliveb.olivetti.com Distribution: na Lines: 26 In article <3215@nmtsun.nmt.edu>, john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: > > In the late 70's I photographed a duck at the Palo Alto Duck > Pond that was probably an American x Eurasian Wigeon, > according to local expert Ted Chandik. The head was like > EW, rufous with a yellow crown stripe, while the body was > like AW, with rusty flanks. I saw a duck at Arrowhead Marsh which I thought was a hybrid between American and Eurasian Wigeon. It had the green eye patch like an American Wigeon with a grayish crown, but the head below the eye patch was reddish brown and it had a yellow forehead stripe. I remember seeing three Eurasian Wigeons on Adobe Creek, next to Charleston Slough, that ranged nicely from extreme juvenal plumage to near-adult. The youngest one had a very indistinct forehead stripe with a darker brown head color. The sides were uniformly colored a reddish brown. At this point the back was still brown. The near-adult bird was colored exactly like an adult except for a few spots of rust on the upper flanks. The bird that was in-between was also like an adult except for more rust color on the sides and the back was still blotchy with some brown feathers. These three birds, all seen on the same day, at the same place, within about an hour's time, were an excellent demonstration of the juvenile molt sequence. Mike