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In November 2003 I was with group of
Australian and local birders on the banks of the Barron River at Kuranda
(Qld) about midday in a good light.
Among a group of ten or more Hardheads close
in to shore, I got a quick glimpse of a swimming duck with
a vivid, conspicuously green head and what looked to be a white thigh
patch. I immediately called "Chestnut Teal" and two other birders
familiar with the latter who saw it at the same moment as
me concurred.
Alas, for the American in the group (for whom
Chestnut Teal would have been a lifer!) it was not to be. While the group of
ducks remained in place, we scoped them one by one. All were Hardheads.
Not all that surprising as there seem to be
very few atlas records of Chestnut Teal for the Cairns area.
We were all convinced the "Chestnut Teal" was a
Hardhead seen in an unusual light. (The white undertail patch on a
swimming Hardhead adds to the illusion).
I'd forgotten this incident until reading Jennifer
Spry's recent posting about how her "Baer's Pochard" morphed into a Hardhead as
the sun rose last weekend at WTP.
At "The Rock" on Lake Borrie on Wednesday morning,
Marj and I couldn't even find a Hardhead!
Neville
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