Cinnamon/Bluewing?

[Al Hansen]

Every fall when the brown ducks start to fly south some hunters wonder why waterfowl biologists would call these ducks "cinnamons and or bluewings". During the summer and fall phase these ducks usually ALL look like bluewings but if you look close enough you might see a difference.

This shot was taken very early in the morning. I opted for my Canon instead of my cannon!

Example A:

Example B:

This bluewing has a brown eye. You will also notice that most of the time when they are swimming in the water, that their blue patch doesn't show up so much.

Example C:
This is a drake cinnamon. First of all you can see his very red eye. It is even easy for me to tell the difference when I have both to look at. One (the red eye) is much lighter than the other. (I'm color blind)

The only other difference is minute for sure. You would need a caliper to measure the upper mandible of the cinnamon and or bluewing. The cinnamon's upper beak is just a bit wider than that of the bluewing. If you can "think" spoonbill, it will help.

I hope that some of this might help.
Al

 

[Paul F Boundy]

Thanks Al. Great shots per usual, except Chili and the gang are missing, and very informative. Glad you gave the answer in the subsequent photos, cause I was spending alot of time peering at the first two. :>) :>)

 

[Scott Bell]

Al,
I LOVE that first picture, though I had to laugh as I imagined pulling the trigger on the 'hole' in the middle of the flock

Cool comparison of the two varieties. At one point, I thought you were going to say you could tell the difference in eye color on the wing hehehe.

 

[Tom Modin]

Great comparison photos and even better reference photos for carving and painting. THANKS!!!!!!

 

[scott barmby]

wow

 

[Ed L.]

Al,

Great Observation. I've only seen one Cinnimon Teal in all the years I've been hunting and it was a hen which we had to look up in the Field and Stream hand book. Neat to see the two together like that. Coming in on me like in your photo all I'd see would be Green Wings and Blue wings.

Thanks for the leasson.

 

[Dave Blink]

Mr. Hanson,
I'm new to this forum and was wondering if you would mind sharing with me some information on the equipment you used to take those absolutely stunning shots of the teal and the shovelers.

 

[Andrew L.]

Thanks Al. Interesting read and never knew that before. Not many Cinnies here ever and most of our BWT were gone before season even opened.

 

[Rob Robertson]

Good stuff Al. When Bluewings have been here on the Red River for a while they get a red color on their feathers. Every September we get several fellows that claim they shot a Cinnamon. The eyes tell the story. Or you can shoot them in January when there is no dought.

My Middle Son with the days bag.

 

[Al Hansen]

Thanks Al. Great shots per usual, except Chili and the gang are missing, and very informative. Glad you gave the answer in the subsequent photos, cause I was spending alot of time peering at the first two. :>) :>)

Thanks for those comments, Paul. To help you feel better I will include these shots for you.
Al

Chaco

Chili

Pepper

Cayenne

 

[Al Hansen]

Al,
I LOVE that first picture, though I had to laugh as I imagined pulling the trigger on the 'hole' in the middle of the flock

Cool comparison of the two varieties. At one point, I thought you were going to say you could tell the difference in eye color on the wing hehehe.

Thanks Scott,
Here is another picture that also has a few holes in it but more than twice as many birds.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Great comparison photos and even better reference photos for carving and painting. THANKS!!!!!!

Glad you liked them Tom. If you ever need a particular type of puddle duck for reference, I would be happy to send you shots of them if they will serve the purpose.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

wow

Thanks, Scott.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Al,

Great Observation. I've only seen one Cinnimon Teal in all the years I've been hunting and it was a hen which we had to look up in the Field and Stream hand book. Neat to see the two together like that. Coming in on me like in your photo all I'd see would be Green Wings and Blue wings.

Thanks for the leasson.

Glad you liked that comparison, Ed. I am really quite lucky because for years I have hunted with a fantastic man, Tim, who used to be the state's waterfowl biologist. It is from his wealth of knowledge that I have been able to glean some things important and interesting to me.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Mr. Hanson,
I'm new to this forum and was wondering if you would mind sharing with me some information on the equipment you used to take those absolutely stunning shots of the teal and the shovelers.

First of all, Dave, welcome to this great site. Have fun. As for the equipment that I use; I always take two cameras, my Canon 50D and point and shoot Olympus SP570UZ. For the Canon the first two shots on this post were taken with an f2.8L 70-200mm lens--non IS, the teal shots and shoverlers were taken with the Canon 50D using an f5.6 400mm L lens. Farther down you'll see some dog pics and they were taken with my Canon 50D using a kit lens which is a 28-135mm IS USM lens. Hope that helps you.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Thanks Al. Interesting read and never knew that before. Not many Cinnies here ever and most of our BWT were gone before season even opened.

Hi Andrew,
Sure glad you enjoyed the thread. We, too, even though Bev and I live only 145 miles from the Mexican border I never get to shoot many adult drake bluewings/cinnamons because they have already migrated to Mexico before our season opens.
Al

 

[Al Hansen]

Hey Rob,
Thanks so much for including that great shot of your duck hunt and seeing your proud son holding those two drake cinnamon teal made my day.
Al

 

[Jayson Wilt]

Very cool pictures we dont see any cinnamon's here on the east coast but there is always someone who claims they have, and I never knew about the eye color difference...

 

[Geoff Vine]

Al

These are fantastic. Do you have larger format orginals you could email of the closeups, or are these the only size you have? I would love to use them as reference for furture decoys...

Geoff

 

[Todd H]

Look at the bird in the 2nd picture in Example "B".

He's like ....."Here's my impression of a John Lawrence palm frond decoy "

Todd