tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post898392068497317324..comments2024-03-10T14:33:50.262+00:00Comments on Regent's Park Birds: 11th Decemberregents park birds.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05857667944318385224noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-8879010412256680162012-12-14T06:46:38.775+00:002012-12-14T06:46:38.775+00:0012 Dec (addendum):
Worth noting that there were 58...12 Dec (addendum):<br />Worth noting that there were 580 Black-headed Gulls standing on the lake ice - three times the normal number.birdman_eustonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09232990514600770658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-4859626875961031942012-12-13T17:09:17.049+00:002012-12-13T17:09:17.049+00:00I dropped into the Park briefly looked for the ...I dropped into the Park briefly looked for the 'Aythya' duck hybrid again today (13 Dec) but without success (although the hybrid goose is still present). Meanwhile, I found a photo on another birding blog that looks like much like my duck:<br /><a href="http://www.freewebs.com/levels-birder/may2012.htm" rel="nofollow">Female Aythya hybrid</a><br />Yesterday's individual differed only slightly from the photo, in having: a darker-brown mantle and underparts (more like a Tufted Duck); a clearer-white circular band behind the bill (more like a Scaup but more blurred / less well-defined than in that species); and a slightly longer-necked, more erect posture - but on the other hand, the duck may simply have been nervous! (Again, it was the size of a Scaup or Pochard, and I didn't examine the bill closely so it may not have had as much black as the one in the photo does.)birdman_eustonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09232990514600770658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-90196592064935998042012-12-13T08:05:45.632+00:002012-12-13T08:05:45.632+00:00It is a lot harder to workout the parentage of fem...It is a lot harder to workout the parentage of female hybrid waterfowl, drakes a normally easier to do.<br /><br />The Cormorant roost on Heron Island is an all year round event. The numbers in the winter though are larger (no going back to Walthamstow Res to feed young) and if my memory serves me right has exceeded over 80 birds. <br /> regents park birds.blogspot.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05857667944318385224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-9132783458856638812012-12-12T20:23:38.735+00:002012-12-12T20:23:38.735+00:00I must say I'm more sure of its 'Tufted...I must say I'm more sure of its 'Tufted' hybrid status than the identity of its second parent, Tony. It had the two-tone, darker-brown body exactly like a female Tufted Duck but with 1) the size of a female Scaup (or Pochard - both species were nearby), with 2) a white ring at the base of the bill as wide as a Scaup's (cf. older female Tufteds - it was wider than that) but slightly blurred at the base. (I wish now I had examined the bill itself more closely but I think it was the typical scaup/tufted 'blue'-bill variety.) It's possible, I suppose, that the above description matches that of an exotic species I'm unfamiliar with but as with the hybrid goose, I haven't noticed this particular bird before today. (To add to the mix, it had the slightly longer-necked, upright 'jizz' of a North American Ring-necked Duck but with a rounded, dark-brown head like a Scaup, without a hint of a crest.)<br /><br />PS Is a roost of 50+ Cormorants at all unusual at this time of year, in these weather conditions? (There were nine juveniles among them, by the way.)birdman_eustonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09232990514600770658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-1818086719824269212012-12-12T19:18:37.987+00:002012-12-12T19:18:37.987+00:00Interesting waterfowl records, what makes you thin...Interesting waterfowl records, what makes you think that it was a scaup tufted hybrid?regents park birds.blogspot.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05857667944318385224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16314333.post-4119242241918712952012-12-12T17:52:42.418+00:002012-12-12T17:52:42.418+00:0012 Dec:
A sub-zero morning - surely a factor behin...12 Dec:<br />A sub-zero morning - surely a factor behind most of the following observations:<br />1 Lapwing circling low over The Hub, area 37 at 12:30 preparing to land but thought better of it; <br />50+ Cormorant and 10+ Stock Dove coming in to roost high in trees on Heron Island, area 8 half an hour before dusk (arriving singly or a few at a time at most - sadly, a Cormorant died last night);<br />flock of 20+ Magpie flushed from ground in N end of Nursery, area 23 at dusk;<br />1♀ Wigeon in Longbridge Sanctuary;<br />1 Teal flying low E (having just left the lake, most likely) at 15:20;<br />Canada x Greylag Goose hybrid with both 'parent' species on Holme Green, area 9 at 15:10;<br />♀Tufted x Scaup hybrid, viewing platform of Longbridge Sanctuary, area 35 at 14:30.birdman_eustonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09232990514600770658noreply@blogger.com