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Female aythya (1 Viewer)

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Female aythya hybrid

Saturday 3rd of february I and 2 other birders saw the female aythya in the attatched photo, at Stege on the Danish island of Moen.
The bird was in a mixed flok of about 6000 Aythya ducks, mostly tufties but also some Pochards and Scaups.
The bird was larger than the Tufties and in size closer to Pochard and Scaup.

I have no experience with Pochard x Scaup females, i saw a male last winter and have seen several pictures of males, but i think this might be one.

any comments are welcome.

best regards
Lars Michael
 

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Looks exactly what i would expect a Pochard x Scaup to look like. Still, always difficult to be 100% sure with these things.
 
Pochard x Tufted duck is my (first) guess...

Many of them develop white around the base of the bill, even though the parents do not show that (or not often, in the case of Tufted duck).

But have a look at the pattern on the bill-typical pochard x tufted in my opinion-the black tip is very big and at the sides goes towards the base of the bill.

The hybrid attached here is a fuligula x ferina (note that the photo colours are much colder blueish than the bird was in reality) It has a similar bill pattern and also white feathers on the base of the bill...It was Tuftie-sized and in coloration closer to Tuftie, but head shape was more like pochard.(However,the other way round is also possible!)


Back to the Original bird: What concerns me is the uniformity of back and flanks, in most pochard x Tufted duck females there is more contrast between flanks and back. That would be better for Scaup x Pochard...

However, the few pictures of female Pochard x Scaup I have seen up to now don´t show if a bill pattern like in the bird in question is possible in this hybrid...

Do you have pictures of other such hybrids and also different pictures of this one?
 

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Hi Jörn
I will be able to get more photos of this duck to morrow, i dont have any my self but my friend, Rasmus Strack, will send me some. If you want some in better resulution he will send them directly to your email. I myself have a photo of a tufted x pochard, a couple strange geese (maby canada x chineese, or some kind of trigen or backcross), a bad one of a male tufted x RND and one of Denmarks first and only Rc-pochard x pochard. And i belive rasmus has others. I can post some of mine if you are interested.

I did notice that the bill pattern is very much like those of tufted x pochard.
But the little difference in back and flank colour, the large amount of white around the bill and the size, it was larger in real life than it looks in the photo, makes me think it's pochard x scaup. Aloso that the head shape is quite similar to the male scaup x pochard that i've seen.

Another thing that i didn't mention is that there seem to be white in the wing band.

Best regards
Lars Michael
 
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