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immature scaup? Bird ID please

4.9K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Bill Herian  
#1 ·
Was flying with the teal but obviously it's not. What is this guys? maybe juvenile scaup?
Image
 
#9 ·
Look at the tertiary wing feathers, the feathers at the trailing edge of the wing just inboard of the speculum. Tilt them in the light. If they show green iridescence, it's a ringneck duck. If it shows none, just gray/brown, it's a redhead. A game biologist a long time ago told me that's the easiest and most dependable way to differentiate between a hen redhead and a ringer. By the way, as has already been pointed out, it's not a bluebill. Immature or not, a bluebill has a white speculum.
 
#12 ·
quack wackr said:
its not a red head hen, red heads dont have a white ring around he base of there beak, anhttp://www.google.ca/search?q=red+hea ... d+duck+hen
Weird thing is that every hen redhead we killed last year looked like what you are saying is not a hen redhead
 

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#13 ·
hey quack wacker if you look at the pick of the duck on the running board you you can see the white stripe just behind the black tip of the bill that rules out a bluebill both ringer and redhead hens sometimes have the pale section of feathers behind the bill. that with no white on speculum it rules out a hen bill. pick up that lemaster method book it really helps with the tricky ones. here in the USA we have to be careful cuz we can only get 2redheads but 4 bluebills . and a whole 6bird limit of ringers
 
#16 ·
Ringneck looks like first year drake. Lots of black feathers around the lower neck upper breast. Yeah. Yeah it has a henlike markings on the face but that's what first year diver species plume out with. :thumbsup: lots of hunters think first year drakes are hens--but that's just because they don't know any better
That's what it is
 
#18 ·
duckman27 said:
quack wackr said:
its not a red head hen, red heads dont have a white ring around he base of there beak, anhttp://www.google.ca/search?q=red+hea ... d+duck+hen
Weird thing is that every hen redhead we killed last year looked like what you are saying is not a hen redhead
look at the picture u just posted > that duck looks nothing liek the one in the pic, your pic the duck is clearly grey with a redish head, the duck in the other photo is clearly black ? i shoot tons of divers too and i never seen a red head that was black ?