Welcome to the GRC Recorders pages. This blog provides details on all the relevant news of Glamorgan’s scarcer birds, plus all BBRC & WRP decisions that affect us locally. It will also be used to document the status and occurrence of these scarcer species and we welcome contributions from anyone with photographs, artwork or documentation of rarities past, present and future. The GRC also welcomes all seawatching news from around Glamorgan and news of passage migrants in spring & autumn, uncommon birds in our area and unusual behaviour.
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The Glamorgan Rarities Committee, in conjunction with the Glamorgan Bird Club & Gower Wildlife , have agreed to co-operate with the Welsh Ornithological Society in the sharing of bird records & photographs in the interest of keeping accurate records and to promote birdwatching in North, Mid & South Wales.
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
imm drake Lesser Scaup ?
discovered this bird at Cosmeston late morning by the cafe. Later it re-located to the left hand corner of E lake, beyond the boardwalk.
2 records shots taken through mizzle covered lens!
I shd have some nice HD video but haven't processed that yet!
Nice find John - might be worth getting some more shots of the nail pattern which maybe looks a bit more splayed than typical? Difficult to see from just these two shots. The back looks a bit dark to me too, but then so did the original bird when it first turned up - very interesting...
Head on, which I saw only once, the nail did looked splayed and the actual bill shape looked wider at the tip and narrowed towards the base. The head colour did show on occasions, a greenish tinge, although this changed with the light factors to a warmer bluish hue. The wing-bar pattern seemed to show more white extending into the primaries than usual for lesser scaup, although the bird is an immature, however the white should stop at the primaries to a more greyish colouration. The underwing pattern looked ok. The observers present all made remarks about the various features mentioned and the fact that the individual looked a bit bulky. The light was not very good and the shade from the overhanging shrubbery cast a darker light on the water, as the birds were sheltering from the wind. I have been online going through various blogs/websites etc and have spoken at length with SPH and we both agree that this bird is very probably a hybrid. Still it was a good find by JDW nonetheless.
3 comments:
Nice find John - might be worth getting some more shots of the nail pattern which maybe looks a bit more splayed than typical? Difficult to see from just these two shots. The back looks a bit dark to me too, but then so did the original bird when it first turned up - very interesting...
Head on, which I saw only once, the nail did looked splayed and the actual bill shape looked wider at the tip and narrowed towards the base. The head colour did show on occasions, a greenish tinge, although this changed with the light factors to a warmer bluish hue. The wing-bar pattern seemed to show more white extending into the primaries than usual for lesser scaup, although the bird is an immature, however the white should stop at the primaries to a more greyish colouration. The underwing pattern looked ok. The observers present all made remarks about the various features mentioned and the fact that the individual looked a bit bulky. The light was not very good and the shade from the overhanging shrubbery cast a darker light on the water, as the birds were sheltering from the wind. I have been online going through various blogs/websites etc and have spoken at length with SPH and we both agree that this bird is very probably a hybrid. Still it was a good find by JDW nonetheless.
Looks very close to the genuine article, though on first impression the back and bill-tip pattern are a bit puzzling.
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