Waikanae Estuary and ponds - brown teal hybrid

[Brent Stephenson]

After the Otaki sewage ponds on Fri 7 Aug I headed to the Waikanae Estuary and ponds. Spent quite a bit of time there taking pictures - beaut day with blue kies and great light. As well as the usual suspects on the ponds (dabchick, shovelor, scaup) the pied shags were in all sorts of phases of breeding (courting and nest building, feeding large chicks, and mobs of fledged juvs still being fed on the pond). There was also at least one large black shag nesting in the top of the Macrocarpa tree - think this might be the first time I've seen this species breeding?

There was also a brown teal hybrid feeding in the inlet below the pond overflow into the estuary. It was the right size and almost the right proportions, but the plumage was just not convincing and when it up-ended orangey legs were visible. I've attached a couple of images below.

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Nothing else overly unusual at the site, but a good few hours and around 2000 images for the afternoon there! I've put additional images onto my blog - http://www.eco-vista.com/brentsblog.htm

Cheers,

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Hey Brent, looks like you're putting that lens to good use.
This has to be the bird I photographed there last year. She was with a very mixed up looking drake. Any sign of him?

[Brent Stephenson]

Yeah - the new lens is awesome. I've posted some more pics and a bit of a blurb about the lens in the August section of my blog site - http://www.eco-vista.com/brentsblog.htm.

There was no sign of any other teal that day.

Cheers,

[mickramsey]

Hi Brent,

Do you know what the parentage of the Brown Teal hybrid is?

Thanks