Hey there!
I'm new to birding, so there are still many basics I don't know yet. So bear with me if I'm missing some obvious stuff.
Yesterday, I was out at a seaside park in Fukuoka (which in south-west Japan). I saw a big flock of ducks off the coast (maybe 100 or so) and identified them to be mostly greater scaups. Among them though, I saw two very different types of females: one was clearly greater scaups, but the other looked like female common goldeneyes (in particular, there was no white at the base of the bill). However, there wasn't a single male common goldeneye to be found. I was surprised by this distribution... Is this a common behavior for female ducks to group up with males/females of another duck species but with no males of their own species? Alternatively, is it more likely that I've misidentified winter->summer transitioning plumage of female greater scaups as a female common goldeneye?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Danny
I'm new to birding, so there are still many basics I don't know yet. So bear with me if I'm missing some obvious stuff.
Yesterday, I was out at a seaside park in Fukuoka (which in south-west Japan). I saw a big flock of ducks off the coast (maybe 100 or so) and identified them to be mostly greater scaups. Among them though, I saw two very different types of females: one was clearly greater scaups, but the other looked like female common goldeneyes (in particular, there was no white at the base of the bill). However, there wasn't a single male common goldeneye to be found. I was surprised by this distribution... Is this a common behavior for female ducks to group up with males/females of another duck species but with no males of their own species? Alternatively, is it more likely that I've misidentified winter->summer transitioning plumage of female greater scaups as a female common goldeneye?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Danny