[birding] Airlie CBC Possible hybrid duck and Vesper Sparrow

Sun Jan 4 09:19:07 PST 2009

Probably this will be one that got away, but for what its worth I have posted some poor pictures of what appears to possibly be a hybird of some sort.  The pictures really don't help much.  Perhaps my birding partner Phyllis will post a description as well.  In addition to what I stated below, the tuft was visible with only binoculars, and was quite plain with the scope.

If someone much more knowlegeable wants to chase this I can work on getting access to the pond.  It was in the Bueana Vista area south on Independence.

Cheryl Whelchel
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Cheryl Whelchel<mailto:dirtgirl16cr125 at MSN.COM> 
To: David Irons<mailto:llsdirons at msn.com> 
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: need help with 2 id's

Thanks for the response.  There were 2 other observers, one person had been birding for over 30 years.  She is the one that first noticed the tuft and we studied it at 60 power for 20 minutes.  So yes I think that it definitely had a tuft.  Unfortuneatly it was on private property well away from the road, and access will be problematic.

Again thanks for the great help.

Cheryl Whelchel
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Irons<mailto:llsdirons at msn.com> 
  To: Cheryl Whelchel<mailto:dirtgirl16cr125 at msn.com> 
  Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 11:05 PM
  Subject: RE: need help with 2 id's

  Hi Cheryl,

  Sorry for the late response. I just got back from doing the Coquille Valley CBC and I am scheduled to meet a couple people for pre-dawn owling at 5AM for tomorrow's Eugene CBC.  If I got to bed this very instant I will get five hours of sleep.

  The sparrow is definitely a Vesper.  The very neat complete eyering, relatively plain face (not as patterned as a Savannah) and the fine streaking on the breast and flanks make this a pretty straight forward ID.

  The duck is more of a challenge. I can't see what I would call a tuft in any of these images. Based on head shape along and the generally paleness in the face and your description, I would say the bird is likely a Ring-necked Duck. Though Tufteds resemble RNDU a bit, they have a very rounded crown and hindcrown.  It is not squared off like a Ring-necked. There is the slight possibility of it being a hybrid Tufted X Lesser Scaup or even Tufted X Ring-necked, but with out a closer more clear image that would be tough to tell. If you have the opportunity, you might try to get out and see it again. If you are sure you saw even a little tuft, I would post this to OBOL and the Mid-Valley Birders site in hopes that someone can go out and refind it.

  Dave 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: dirtgirl16cr125 at MSN.COM
  To: llsdirons at msn.com
  Subject: need help with 2 id's
  Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 19:36:44 -0800

  Hi Dave,    

  I did the Airlie CBC today and found 2 unusual birds.  The first is a sparrow and it is probably a Vesper Sparrow, but I wanted to run it by someone else.

  The second is a duck that is a bit more difficult, especially since it was a little too far away for decent pictures.  It was a brown duck with a hint of white around its bill.  The bill was  a sort of gray with a black tip.  The head had a rounded profile with what I would call a dark chocolate cap, and a tuft.  It's back was a slightly darker brown than flanks.  It held it's tail stiffly up sort of like a ruddy.  It dove.  I would love to call this a Tufted Duck, the problem is the eyes.  It appeared to have a white eye ring and white line going postierior from the middle of the eye.  To far away to really discern eye color, but seemed dark, not yellow.  There were no other birds present so judging relative size was difficult.

  The amount of white around the bill on face was very slight.  The remainder of face was chocolatly brown like the back.

  I can't rule out either Ring-necked or Tufted.  The eyes are inconsistent with Tufted, and the shape of head and tuft are inconsistent with Ring-neck.

  I put pictures of both birds on my website.  I will need to let Paul Adamus know asap, especially about the sparrow since the photo documentation is good.        

  Thanks 

  Cheryl Whelchel

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/vgswallow16/<http://www.flickr.com/photos/vgswallow16/>

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