Timiskaming Birds Forum

This afternoon the Montreal River at Elk Lake became Duck City!  I observed and photographed at least 8 different species, including Mallards, Pintails, American Wigeon, Common Goldeneye, a Bufflehead, and these, which I have tentatively identified as Ring-necked Duck and Greater Scaup, and a Red-breasted Merganser.  If I've got these right, I believe the latter two are new arrivals. Sorry about the photo quality, but the river is wide here.  Needless to say, the photos are cropped and enlarged for ID purposes.

Hi Mark. You're definately correct on the Ring-necked. I think the last looks more like a male Mallard, though.  Shape is wrong for a Merganser, and it's not holding its head right to my eye. As for the Scaup, how did you determine that it was a Greater and not a Lesser Scaup? Especially at a distance, it would not be easy to tell them apart, and the Lesser is certainly the more common around here.

On second inspection, I think you're right about the Merganser. Mallard does not have all that white on the shoulders. My first reaction was more about overall body shape, but this bird is in more of a relaxed, almost "hunkered-down" posture (at least, for a Merganser).  And the crest on the back of the head is just barely visible if you look close at the photo (or I could be just imagining it). It was probably easier to tell in real life than in the photo.

You're right, the crest is more visible even in the original photo. As for the Scaup, I deliberated long and hard, but it was the head shape that swayed my decision. I felt it was more rounded than "peaked," as my field guide described the Lesser Scaup.  There was quite a raft of these (maybe 30-40 birds) mixed with the Ring-necks, and all seemed to have the rounded head, but I'm open to correction.  The original photos are also available, if you think they might help.

 This afternoon. Also saw goldeneye, pair of Canada Geese, Mallards, a lone Sandhill Crane circling high and calling continuously. I did a quick look around near Belle Vallee, but only saw a pair of mallards, & a few Kestrels, & a few Wigeon at Moose Creek. At Sutton Bay, there were ducks & Gulls along the shore far out. I saw Mallards, Pintails, Common Mergansers, Scaup. There were glimpses of other ducks farther out on the water. I looked for shorebirds, but no luck.

Still a bit early for most shorebirds. The most we should expect right now would be Greater Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpiper, and maybe a Solitary Sandpiper.

Can I add a comment? I'm leaning toward  the scaup being a Lesser..note that  highest point on the round head is towards the back,,whereas the highest point is towards the front on the Greater. Too bad there wasn't any sun...you would have been able to see the sheen on the head. great that you saw so many species!!!!! Lucky you.

Despite what many field guides say, the sheen on the head is not a reliable identification characteristic. Even in good light, the same bird will often have a purplish sheen one second and a greenish sheen the next, followed by a sheen that isn't really either a few moments later.  It is a refractive colouration, not pigmented, and is therefore greatly influenced by the incident angle of the light, which is constantly changing as the bird moves its head. Head shape is also tricky at best, and requires years of experience to use effectively, as the apparant shape of the head changes with the birds behaviour, activity and mood. The simplist and most reliable way to ID the Scaup is when flying overhead by the length of the white flash on the underwing.  For me, confidently identifying a Scaup sitting on the water at a distance is pretty much hopeless. I've spent many hours trying and can confidently say I can't do it. I usually end up just assuming its a Lesser unless I see the length of the white underwing flash in flight.

OK. Allow me to correct myself. I spent some time viewing Scaup at a reasonable range in excellent, bright front lighting today (sun over my shoulder), and for the first time in my life I felt confident in differentiating Greater from Lesser.  Both were present in relatively close proximity to each other, diving and milling about, but not so close to each other that I could not keep track of individual birds. Yes, head sheen was indeed variable, but if I watched a single bird for awhile, whenever one colour finally did stand out strongly it was consistently the same colour on any given bird.  I guess I've just never been in the kind of ideal light that this was evident before.  (So my comments from the previous post are still valid most of the time.)

Sheen on a Greater would shift between brownish, black, and blackish purple, but none of these really hit you as a "colour". When a colour was clearly evident, it was indeed green - almost Mallard head green!  Head shape was variable, but never peaked, but in order to use this trait, I had to watch a single bird for quite a long while to be sure.

Sheen on a Lesser was also variable, and sometimes looked very dark greenish indeed. But when a colour on one of those birds finally really stood out, it was always distinctly purple!  These birds never had the same bright green sheen that I saw on the birds I'm calling Greaters.  Head shape was very variable.  Head shape looked quite rounded and never peaked most of the time. But every now and then, when just sitting calmly and neither preening nor swimming strongly nor just returned from a dive, these birds would indeed show strongly peaked head shape, almost as dramatic as a Ring-necked Duck. So I am quite confident in calling these Lessers.

to me, way easier when both present

As I have stated numerous times, I consider myself a mere beginner and therefore defer to the experts...I'm just glad to add some fuel for discussion.  I have changed my listing to Lesser, and am glad to have learned a little.  The main source for my original decision was The ROM Field Guide to Birds of Ontario... and quite frankly, it has led me astray before. I still was thrilled to see so many species at one time.

Almost, but not quite, as many species tonight at the Englehart Lagoon. Mallards, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, American Wigeon, and again I wait for the decision of the experts, but I believe I have a Wood Duck and a Northern Shoveler here.

There were also Red-winged Blackbirds, some type of sparrow who wouldn't sit still, and something calling quite distinctively that I couldn't find or recognize,  I really have to learn more bird songs.....

My Sibley guide does not refer to head colour differences as a diagnostic trait for Scaup.  All paintings show neither green nor purple colouration, and there is a note on the Scaup page that reads as follows:

"The oft-discussed head color differences in scaup are essentailly useless in the field.
 Both species can show bright green or purple gloss, depending on the bird's behaviour
 and the observer's viewing angle."

The Sibley guide is not typically dismissive of any trait that can be even remotely useful in identification, no matter how obscure, as long as it is reliable. The discussion on head shape is fairly elaborate.  I wanted to check my Sibley guide again because all of the birds I called Greater this afternoon appeared to me to be smaller than the ones I called Lesser. So doubt has creeped in again, because size is supposed to be the other way around.  It could very well be that all of the birds I had today were Lesser Scaup, despite the green head colouration on some.

No questions there Mark - you've got both species correct.  And I do believe you've come up with another first - we haven't had a Shoveler reported yet this year.

Useful comments Gert. Your comment on plumage is one that I've not found very apparant in the field. I've looked for this many times, and it is so dependent on the light that it is a useless characteristic.  (Think of how the apparant shade of grey on a gulls back changes with the light, and you'll know what I'm talking about.)   The nail on the bill needs more investigation, but I suspect that you'd have to have the two species side by side to calibrate your eyes properly to get this feature to work.  I'm going to start paying more attention to the females too.