@schnake2.bsky.social
2 male Ring-necked Ducks, Ferruginous Duck x Common Pochard with both parental species, Greater Scaup females with a duck that might be a Greater x Lesser Scaup female. I did not find the reported Lesser Scaup female in Moos, seeing two Red-throated Loons in the distance made up for it.
January 28, 2026 at 8:15 PM
2 male Ring-necked Ducks, Ferruginous Duck x Common Pochard with both parental species, Greater Scaup females with a duck that might be a Greater x Lesser Scaup female. I did not find the reported Lesser Scaup female in Moos, seeing two Red-throated Loons in the distance made up for it.
A day and a half waterfowl birding around Lake Constance at the end of January resulted in some good observations. Almost with a touch of North America...
#birds #BirdHybrid #birding #vagrants
#birds #BirdHybrid #birding #vagrants
January 28, 2026 at 8:13 PM
A day and a half waterfowl birding around Lake Constance at the end of January resulted in some good observations. Almost with a touch of North America...
#birds #BirdHybrid #birding #vagrants
#birds #BirdHybrid #birding #vagrants
That's a great idea! Fully agree that it does not match any RND hybrid phenotype.
January 20, 2026 at 9:34 PM
That's a great idea! Fully agree that it does not match any RND hybrid phenotype.
This one is confusing me a bit.... the one in the front, obviously :-) #birdhybrids #birds #ducks
Picture from ornitho.ch by Nicolas Aregger in Alpnach (CH), Jan 11th. Speculation is Ring-necked x Tufted duck or x Lesser Scaup or even pure Lesser, which I exclude based on the nail. Thoughts?
Picture from ornitho.ch by Nicolas Aregger in Alpnach (CH), Jan 11th. Speculation is Ring-necked x Tufted duck or x Lesser Scaup or even pure Lesser, which I exclude based on the nail. Thoughts?
January 15, 2026 at 3:14 PM
This one is confusing me a bit.... the one in the front, obviously :-) #birdhybrids #birds #ducks
Picture from ornitho.ch by Nicolas Aregger in Alpnach (CH), Jan 11th. Speculation is Ring-necked x Tufted duck or x Lesser Scaup or even pure Lesser, which I exclude based on the nail. Thoughts?
Picture from ornitho.ch by Nicolas Aregger in Alpnach (CH), Jan 11th. Speculation is Ring-necked x Tufted duck or x Lesser Scaup or even pure Lesser, which I exclude based on the nail. Thoughts?
Well, when looking at my home patch in Western Germany, it seems Tree Sparrows haven't found the right gene to duplicate for survival yet.... :-( Pretty suitable habitat, have not seen any in 15 years.
January 14, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Well, when looking at my home patch in Western Germany, it seems Tree Sparrows haven't found the right gene to duplicate for survival yet.... :-( Pretty suitable habitat, have not seen any in 15 years.
Reposted
Your daily Avian Hybrids story!
How often do Barrow’s Goldeneye and Common Goldeneye hybridize?
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/h...
#ornithology
How often do Barrow’s Goldeneye and Common Goldeneye hybridize?
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/h...
#ornithology
How often do Barrow’s Goldeneye and Common Goldeneye hybridize?
A genetic study detected only one hybrid individual.
avianhybrids.wordpress.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Your daily Avian Hybrids story!
How often do Barrow’s Goldeneye and Common Goldeneye hybridize?
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/h...
#ornithology
How often do Barrow’s Goldeneye and Common Goldeneye hybridize?
avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/h...
#ornithology
Yeah, it's a bit noisy, but I believe RND, maybe female, in its first year is a safe bet. The other option might have been Redhead female, but head shape, face pattern and color don't look quite right.
October 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Yeah, it's a bit noisy, but I believe RND, maybe female, in its first year is a safe bet. The other option might have been Redhead female, but head shape, face pattern and color don't look quite right.
I'd say 1cy Ring-necked Duck, but probably the original photo is more revealing 😉
October 27, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I'd say 1cy Ring-necked Duck, but probably the original photo is more revealing 😉
So it could have been the same bird given the timing, but not necessarily since Sal is some 50 km (?) away and the bird has been observed until Oct 21st. But who knows...
October 22, 2025 at 1:33 PM
So it could have been the same bird given the timing, but not necessarily since Sal is some 50 km (?) away and the bird has been observed until Oct 21st. But who knows...
Looks like a female-type, and you are cited 🙂 Was the one on Boavista also a female?
October 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Looks like a female-type, and you are cited 🙂 Was the one on Boavista also a female?
Perfect, he is apparently doing a great job in continuing the work of a number of Dutch birders from the 90s into the 2010s. Enjoy Boavista!
October 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Perfect, he is apparently doing a great job in continuing the work of a number of Dutch birders from the 90s into the 2010s. Enjoy Boavista!
I also came across your blog post on the issues with e-bird coverage of Cape Verde and thought that this Facebook group might be of interest for you:
www.facebook.com/groups/44063...
Mainly in German, but relevant information easy to get.
www.facebook.com/groups/44063...
Mainly in German, but relevant information easy to get.
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I also came across your blog post on the issues with e-bird coverage of Cape Verde and thought that this Facebook group might be of interest for you:
www.facebook.com/groups/44063...
Mainly in German, but relevant information easy to get.
www.facebook.com/groups/44063...
Mainly in German, but relevant information easy to get.
Dear Stephen, thanks for sharing this! I am collecting data on RNDs in the Western Palearctic, just fun (e-)birding, I'm interested in patterns of occurrence, but also confounders like increase in observer knowledge, more reporting due to tools like e-bird.
October 22, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Dear Stephen, thanks for sharing this! I am collecting data on RNDs in the Western Palearctic, just fun (e-)birding, I'm interested in patterns of occurrence, but also confounders like increase in observer knowledge, more reporting due to tools like e-bird.
Hi Paul, eBird says yes, drake and female were observed since Sep. However, numbers may still get higher in that location.
October 8, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Hi Paul, eBird says yes, drake and female were observed since Sep. However, numbers may still get higher in that location.
Reposted
Pervasive and recurrent hybridization prevents inbreeding in Europe’s most threatened seabird #ornithology #seabirds @ub.edu @irbio-ub.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
August 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Pervasive and recurrent hybridization prevents inbreeding in Europe’s most threatened seabird #ornithology #seabirds @ub.edu @irbio-ub.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Yeah, I read something quite disturbing about humans and pigs when digging a bit deeper....🫣
August 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Yeah, I read something quite disturbing about humans and pigs when digging a bit deeper....🫣
Actually, quite interesting dispute 🙂
August 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Actually, quite interesting dispute 🙂
Oops, and I see it may be a rather controversial discussion....
labandfield.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/i...
labandfield.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/i...
Is the Labrador Duck a Common Eider x Steller’s Eider hybrid? No
This is a joint post with my long-time friend and colleague Michelle Wille, a PhD candidate at Linnaeus University in Sweden A recent blog post hypothesizing that the now-extinct Labrador Duck was …
labandfield.wordpress.com
August 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Oops, and I see it may be a rather controversial discussion....
labandfield.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/i...
labandfield.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/i...
Dear Jente, thanks for bringing this up again. I recalled stumbling over blogs mentioning that the Labrador Duck may not have been a species at all and therefore tried to find what I read some years ago. I came across McCarthy's blog and someone citing his work from 2021. Has this been solved?
August 23, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Dear Jente, thanks for bringing this up again. I recalled stumbling over blogs mentioning that the Labrador Duck may not have been a species at all and therefore tried to find what I read some years ago. I came across McCarthy's blog and someone citing his work from 2021. Has this been solved?
June 28, 2025 at 9:44 PM
So, given that RNDs team up with Common Pochards in Europe regularly, this hybrid is an option here, but we can never be certain. It is probably as close as we can get to this hybrid. The phenotypic overlap between Pochard hybrids with RNDs and Tufted Ducks may just make the ID unreliable.
June 28, 2025 at 9:41 PM
So, given that RNDs team up with Common Pochards in Europe regularly, this hybrid is an option here, but we can never be certain. It is probably as close as we can get to this hybrid. The phenotypic overlap between Pochard hybrids with RNDs and Tufted Ducks may just make the ID unreliable.
Interestingly, a strikingly similar Aythya was observed about 1000 km SSE in Finland 2 weeks earlier that was ID'd as Tufted x Pochard (7), but pretty much is in line with the description of Rigbäck as well (8).
June 28, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Interestingly, a strikingly similar Aythya was observed about 1000 km SSE in Finland 2 weeks earlier that was ID'd as Tufted x Pochard (7), but pretty much is in line with the description of Rigbäck as well (8).
The grey flanks are similar to (3), but here the contrast between back and flanks is less pronounced, no white spur, eyes can be yellowish-orange, but are usually lighter. In addition, there is always some brownish hue at the breast, flanks or back.
June 28, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The grey flanks are similar to (3), but here the contrast between back and flanks is less pronounced, no white spur, eyes can be yellowish-orange, but are usually lighter. In addition, there is always some brownish hue at the breast, flanks or back.