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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
“Tufted Duck” Aythya fuligula is the name of this photograph taken today at Mundy Pond.
Duck is a Eurasian member of a widely distributed genus of diving ducks that includes Greater and Lesser Scaups and Ring-necked Duck. The male in breeding plumage is told from these similar species by its solid black back and bright white sides with no vermiculation and by a tuft of plumes that hangs down from the rear of the crown (difficult to see when wet and plastered against the head, as it often is when the duck has been diving).
Tufted Duck females, juveniles, and non-breeding-plumaged males are more or less uniformly brown with a much smaller plume or none at all. They are easily confused with scaups and Ring-necked Ducks in similar plumages, and are best separated from them by subtle details of head and bill shape and markings. Hybrids—especially with Greater Scaup—further complicate field identification. (Taken fro Bird Web)
In St. John’s, over the last few years, these birds are becoming more and more abundant. |
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