Dear all,
I would be very interested in getting some comments on a picture of a
suspected hybrid duck, European Shoveler x Blue-winged Teal seen in Norway
recently. My problem with this bird is that it looks very much like an
Australian Shoveler (Anas rhyncotis). As I have very little experience with
this species myself, l would greatly acknowledge any comments on the
picture from those of you who see this bird often.
The picture could be found on the following web page:
http://www.fugler.no
Unfortunately, the text is in Norwegian, but scroll down a little bit and
you will easily find the picture. The main characters stated to suggest a
hybrid instead of an Australian Shoveler is the dark eye (do all AS have a
yellow eye?), the finely spotted grey chest and a "less extreme shoveler
bill". Do these points really exclude an Australian Shoveler?
If a hybrid, shouldn't then an Australian Shoveler be involved...? It may
seem a little strange on this locality, of course, but many strange ducks
occur in various European parks, so it would not be very unlikely to find
an escaped bird in Norway, I guess.
Best regards,
Terje Lislevand
Bergen, Norway
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