ajohn

This bird was seen yesterday at Mai Po, at Gei wai #3. It was with Shovelers and a female Garganey.
I'm fairly sure it is a hybrid Northern Shoveler x Garganey, based on the following:
- Large bill and green head resembles male Northern Shoveler
- Pale flanks but with chestnut in some areas
- Grey undertail
- Speckled brown breast and back
- Suggestion of a pale supercilium in front of eye
- Black and white scapulars similar to Garganey

This hybrid combination that seems to be fairly unusual, and I haven't yet managed to find any other photos of the combination. If anyone else has seen this bird in recent days (or over the winter) and has managed to get better photos than these, I would love to see them.

[ Last edited by ajohn at 17/03/2016 12:53 ]

ajohn

Thanks for posting these, I think they are very useful for the consideration of the ID.

There are a few points visible here that I wasn't able to confirm when I saw the bird:
- Wing pattern is quite similar to male Garganey, with a blue-grey forewing, green speculum and white bands on the greater coverts and secondary tips (shoveler should have broad white tips to GC but narrow or no white on secondaries)
- Tail pattern does not fit shoveler, which is usually dark in the centre and white on the outer tail. Looking at photos it seems closer to some garganey (e.g. http://orientalbirdimages.org/se ... ize=1&Location=), but slightly more patterned than most. I may need to check whether another species shows this pattern.
- Legs are not right for shoveler, which has bright orange legs, or for Garganey, which has greyish legs. These are yellowish-grey, perhaps intermediate between the two species. Several ducks have grey legs though, so this doesn't confirm which of these is involved.