15 August 2023 - Hollingworth Lake

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2 Common Scoters, Aythya duck sp.

On a fairly bright and reasonably sunny morning, a small party of 3 ducks were out in the middle of the lake today.  Two were obviously Common Scoter, but the third was an Aythya species, that had me concerned for a little while. My initial thought (since it had a peaked head, some purplish tinge on the head and a white blaze at the base of the bill, and was relatively small compared to the Scoters) was that it may possibly be a female/immature Lesser Scaup.  After reviewing the photos however, I came to the conclusion that it was probably a Tufted Duck or some kind of hybrid.

 

Common Scoters-, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 160 (view full size image)

Aythya, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 200