duck ID help

D

Dick Sargeant

Well-known member
Guys - I would appreciate some help here. I was going to post a series of shots that I thought were all Widgeon. Upon closer examination of these shots taken at the end of November, I think they may be Gadwall - a species of duck that I have never taken or seen for that matter, that I am aware of. Here are a couple shots of a hen -





And here are some flight shots -





I notice that not all of the bills are black and am also wondering if there is some Mallard X going on here ? There are a few groups of black ducks in this area where most show some degree of Mallard X

I also did get one shot that I was sure was a Widgeon -



Well thanks for looking. I am going to prepare now for the next round of Global Warming.........a couple days below 0.
sarge
 
Yep, just gadwall. no hybrid mix. Blk billed are drakes, orange blk speckle on bills are hens or immature drake but the ones in photos seem to look like mature hens.
Very nice photos by the way.
Gene R.
 
Gadwalls.

First is a drake, followed by a hen. I just commented in another post about how common they are now in Massachusetts on the coast. In the 90s I never encountered them on the salt and now they are encountered almost every outting. Nice pictures especially of the drake wigeon.
 
Yep, gaddies. We call them grey ducks.
Top one is a very nice drake in full plumage. They have a subtle beauty all their own. No other drake duck with similar plumage that I know of.
Next one is a hen, all brown with the orange & black bill.
3rd pic is a pair, drake on top, hen on the bottom.
4th pic, the hen is in the middle, drakes on either side.
We winter thousands of them down here. At first it is hard to pick the drakes from hens but you figure it out after a while
 
Dick,
We had a good push of them late Nov, early Dec. I was seeing them a lot in the PI Sound/Mac area. If you ever need company on your photo shoots let me know, would love to learn how to do it!
Ben
 
Great photos of those ducks,

I recall a day in the marsh on the Lower Columbia. Me and my comrades were laughing about what an incredibly poor caller the guy down the way was.

Again and again he'd start wailing on his duck kazoo and we'd shake our heads and chuckle.


A few minutes later the calling got louder.

"Must be in a kayak or canoe I said." Buddies all agreed, we were getting ready to give him a standing ovation as he paddled by.


A moment later a pair of gadwalls swam in. We heard that terrible duck kazoo too. It was THEM!

and to add insult to injury, they split and we missed!
 
Only hen ducks that sound worse are bluewing hens, they both obviously never took lessons from a champion caller!
The nasally squeak-quack of a drake gaddie is unique and very had to replicate.
 
Dick,
We had a good push of them late Nov, early Dec. I was seeing them a lot in the PI Sound/Mac area. If you ever need company on your photo shoots let me know, would love to learn how to do it!
Ben
Hi Ben -

Will shoot you a PM over the weekend.

sarge
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