Would be a juv Aust. Shelduck. Pizzey’s book says for Imm: “duller, paler; head speckled white”. Hard to imagine any species it would hybridise with in (southern)
Australia. None of the 3 main field guides show a juv. HANZAB does. What looks odd about this photo is it appears to have a mostly whitish breast.
Philip
From: Murray DELAHOY [
Sent: Wednesday, 11 May, 2016 9:29 AM
To: COG Chatline
Subject: [canberrabirds] ID help please
On a recent trip to far-western NSW (near Lake Tandou) I saw a strange duck that I can’t identify - see photo below. (I suspect it might be a shelduck hybrid .. maybe). In flight, bright white leading edges to the wings were obvious.
It was puddling around in the shallows on an irrigation pond/channel. I had the impression that it had long legs.
Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.
