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Hello
Whilst birding a few months ago I turned up a new bird for the
Broome area. Australasian Shoveller in fact not 1 but 9 at a wetland called Lake
Campion. As many of you will know this is a long way out of their normal range.
Since the sighting on 22/5/03 They have dispersed and have been seen on
most wetlands in the Broome region and there now appears to be a total of 12
birds. So far the last sighting being on 1/8/03 of 5 birds at Lake
Eda.
Also on the 1/8/03 I found a pair of Freckled Ducks at
Taylor's Lagoon this is the first record of this species in 16 years in the
Broome region.
Also of interest in the area is a strange duck I
sighted on 1/8/03 at Lake Eda which I feel is a possible hybrid Grey Teal and
Hardhead.
As you will see the duck looks similar in size and posture to
a Grey Teal but colour tones suit Hardhead.
You will note no white in the bill, no white eye, very little
white in the undertail coverts and no white on the belly.
In flight it has a very similar underwing pattern to a Grey
Teal but its upperwing although good views of this were not seen there appeared
to be no white.
If you scroll down the sightings page at above link down to
27/12/02 you will see another pic of a duck looking very similar to the duck
just mentioned but resembled more Hardhead than Grey Teal. This individual also
showed an underwing pattern like a Grey Teal and had a speculum in the upper
wing.
I would be interested to hear peoples thoughts on these 2
ducks.
Thanks in advance
Adrian Boyle
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