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Lapland Ducks (1 Viewer)

Arbu

Well-known member
Any thoughts on the ID of these ducks seen in Lapland just outside the Sarek National Park on 7th September at about 800m asl?

Duck 1 is 2/3 the way along the wide picture at the top. It shows a lot of white on the wing. Could it be a Velvet Scoter?

Duck 2 is side on near the left of the wide picture. Looks like a Wigeon?

I can post enlargements of the other ducks if you think they're worth looking at.
 

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Hello,

first duck is a hard one, at least for me. Seeing the tumbnail, I thought, its an Eider, but after seeing the full picture, and taken location into account it looks good for a Velvet Scooter. Im sure, its one of these two, and at an inland lake in Lapland most propably a Velvet Scooter. With a little bit of guessing, I see that the white wing patch seems good for Velvet: long and curved in an arc-shape. This would be broader and squarer in Tufted Duck.

I write this, because I see at least one Tufted Duck in the original, and some more Tufted/Scaup (and at least one Tufted Duck/Scaup/Pochard) in the original picture.

Second bird is a sure Wigeon (rarer species excluded by location and that nothing looks wrong for the default species (Eurasian Wigeon) by shape alone
 
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Hello,

first duck is a hard one, at least for me. Seeing the tumbnail, I thought, its an Eider, but after seeing the full picture, and taken location into account it looks good for a Velvet Scooter. Im sure, its one of these two, and at an inland lake in Lapland most propably a Velvet Scooter. With a little bit of guessing, I see that the white wing patch seems good for Velvet: long and curved in an arc-shape. This would be broader and squarer in Tufted Duck.

I write this, because I see at least one Tufted Duck in the original, and some more Tufted/Scaup (and at least one Tufted Duck/Scaup/Pochard) in the original picture.

Second bird is a sure Wigeon (rarer species excluded by location and that nothing looks wrong for the default species (Eurasian Wigeon) by shape alone

Thanks. The lake was 800m up so I think we can discount Eider. Attached are some more crops. The duck on the right in 5 seems to show the white wing bar as well. Not sure which one you think might be Tufted/Scaup/Pochard. There were two Goldeneye on the lake quite a bit closer as well.
 

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Hello Arbo,

the right bird in the sixth picture with the white stripe gives the impression of a Goldeneye to me. Its the shade of grey and the long horizontal stripe that gives this jizz.

In the fifth picture is a good looking Tufted Duck, right colours, visible tuft, the bird in front gives the impression of a Wigeon by jizz, colours and position of white patch

In the sixth picture is a bird, that gives the impression of preening Pochard. At least this species would explain the jizz and colours of this duck.

In the fourth picture there is an almost certain Wigeon (rarer species excluded by location and that nothing looks wrong for the default species Eurasian Wigeon) in the front and a possible Goldeneye (or a Scaup/Tufted Duck) to the right: long tail would fit Goldeneye better but its hard to be sure.
The bird behind the Wigeon gives the impression of a Scaup, but could be a Tufted Duck or even another duck species.

The right bird in the third picture gives the jizz of a Scaup. Its not a sure identification but: imagine you have this picture that shows a Scaup. I would choose this to explain the typical jizz of a Scaup, especially the outline and heaviness of the body compared to a Tufted Duck.

And there is an UFO in the third picture that might be a Goosander or something else ....

I cant find the "preening Pochard" in the third picure ...

I hope my answer is helpfull and not regarded as an offense. And its understandable, which birds I believe to be idable with a huge degree of confidence (the Wigeons), and which I believe to be idable with a large degree of confidence (Velvet Scooter, one Tufted Duck and one Goldeneye) and which I believe to be not due to picture quality (second Goldeneye, Scaup/Tufted/Pochard)
 
Yes, I can see the Tufted Duck ID. Here's a crop of the righthand bird from the main picture. It looks rather brown.
 

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Hello Arbu,
thanks for the additional crop. But it doesnt change my opinion on this bird: "The right bird in the third picture gives the jizz of a Scaup. Its not a sure identification but: imagine you have this picture that shows a Scaup. I would choose this to explain the typical jizz of a Scaup, especially the outline and heaviness of the body compared to a Tufted Duck."
Yes: I know, ID books describe female/immature Scaups to have browner plumage than Tufted Duck. This is certainly true as an indicator when comparing large series of birds. But when scanning a lake in central Europe, than colour range in the abundant Tufted Duck (ranging from dark blackish to paler brown and buffish and warm brown) is so great, that overall colouration isnt a good indicator to look for when scanning a flock of Ducks for a female/immature Scaup (exception is a clear and prominent pale grey vermiculation to flanks and/or back, a good feature for Scaup. But thats not the point here).

But I can understand, when someone says this bird is better left unidentified due to picture quality (no offense)
 
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