Freckled ducks once more

[Kim Farley via Canberrabirds <>]

Hehe. Very good Geoffrey. Topical too, given the ongoing Freckled Ducks at Jerra Wetlands. Records are being submitted daily to eBird for the Frecklies, often with some very good photos. 

Speaking as eBird reviewer, I have noticed that while birders are generally aware that a Freckled Duck with red on the bill is a male, some birders are assuming that any Freckled Duck without the red must be a female. Not so!  Females do not have the red, but neither do non breeding males or young birds.

The usually excellent Australian Bird Guide (the "blue book") is a bit misleading on the topic, as the illustration doesn't make it clear that only the breeding males have red at the bill. The accompanying text is clear however. The Pizzey and Knight field guide does a much better job in the text and illustrations.

Writing this post also prompts me to again encourage eBirders to add sex and age information to their eBird records - not just for Freckled Duck but for other species as well.  Some folk add this info to their record notes - but the most useful way to record sex and age is to add it to the sex and age table on the record. To open the table, click on 'Details' while the record is open in the browser. Breeding codes can be added in the same place. Adding these details as data rather than text adds greatly to the value of the data you are contributing. 

Kim

writing as eBird reviewer

On Tue, Feb 4, 2025 at 11:30 AM Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

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