Hi Milburn and Phil and all,
Like the Pintail, the Northern Shoveler is also in
immaculate condition. I'm more than aware that this
poses questions about how both birds have reached
Australia in such a state.
I am not overly familiar with the moult timings and
patterns of northern hemisphere quackers. However,
this apparent curiosity (and the striking coincidence
of two vagrant waterfowl appearing at the same time in
the same area) does not answer the other question: to
date, no evidence has emerged that these birds are
escapees from an avicultural collection. On the
contrary, David Geering and Rohan Clarke have already
demonstrated the equal unlikeliness of this prospect.
Ultimately this will be a question for BARC to decide
and if evidence emerges that these birds are escapees,
I'll be more than happy to strike them from my list.
That won't make me think the whole exercise was a
waste of time. On the contrary, it's been FUN finding
these rather exquisite birds - a concept which I think
occasionally goes missing on Birding-Aus.
Cheers
AS
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