Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

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sjacques
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:28 pm

Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby sjacques » Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:59 pm

Sifting through the ducks early evening today no sign of the putative female chestnut teal, last seen 12/10/18, but I was astonished to find the pictured bird, which I believe to be an immature drake chestnut teal.

There is a very good match for this bird in the photos on the chestnut teal page on nz birds online.

Scattered dark green feathering on head, densest on crown, warm chestnut breast, black tail with white patches at rear flanks. Dark folded tertiary roughly matching colour of upper tail. Similar size to grey teal and also similar wing pattern when seen in flight.
Chestnut 2 19-10-18.jpg
Chestnut 2 19-10-18.jpg (84.77 KiB) Viewed 2558 times
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Steve Wood
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Re: Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby Steve Wood » Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:42 am

Surely this has to be a none breeding Male !
Well done.
sjacques
Posts: 194
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:28 pm

Re: Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby sjacques » Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:10 pm

Bird showing very well on the tip lagoon this afternoon amongst large numbers of grey teal and aus shoveler. Will post some photos later on.
sjacques
Posts: 194
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:28 pm

Re: Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby sjacques » Sat Oct 20, 2018 9:13 pm

A couple of pics of the teal from this afternoon. Paul and I think this is a first year male, any opinions?
chesnut 2 20-10-18.jpg
chesnut 2 20-10-18.jpg (141.54 KiB) Viewed 2405 times
Chestnut 2 quacking.jpg
Chestnut 2 quacking.jpg (296.07 KiB) Viewed 2405 times
Davidthomas
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Re: Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby Davidthomas » Sat Oct 20, 2018 9:40 pm

Looks pretty damn convincing to me! Well done you two. Shows what regular vigilance of a reliable spot will do. Interesting that there are two different teals present.
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sav
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Re: Immature drake chestnut teal, Tip Lagoon, Invercargill

Postby sav » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:44 pm

Hi all,

I think it looks good too. And it adds to the credentials of the possible female at the same site. I saw the first ever accepted Chestnut Teal in NZ and it looked like a watered down version of this rather convincing individual.

BUT.... I still think we need to tread carefully. Some of the features that were "good" for the female are absolutely absent from this bird. Take a look at the head shape of both?? And ducks do that interbreeding thing that just messes everything up.....
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
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