I don't think I agree. The pale face doesn't track a facial crescent like that of a Blue-winged Teal. If you look at the shape of it, the paleness is broadest at the forehead and at the throat. In contrast, a Blue-winged Teal has the broadest white behind the bill and almost nothing near the throat. To me, the indistinctly pale face and pale, not white, patch near the rump are easily matched by transitional male Cinnamon Teal with no need for hybrid ancestry hypothesis. There is no spotting on the sides visible in any photo yet posted other than the dark centers of eclipse feathers. Beautiful photos of an unmistakable Cinnamon X Blue-winged teal by Chris from a couple of years ago (can you post a link?) show a bird quite unlike this one, with lots of crisp spotting on side feathers, a facial pattern unlike this bird, and a clear white flank patch.
I have little experience with Cinnamon Teal at this time of year, but this bird is pretty comparable in terms of coloration with the couple of birds I've seen in Texas in November. The BNA account mentions that this species holds onto bits of eclipse plumage well through the fall, and doesn't get full, smooth breeding plumage until the spring. I need to look at more seasonal examples, but I don't see anything outside the range of normal Cinnamon Teal plumage that would convince me this is a hybrid yet. Kevin From: bounce-119851092-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-119851092-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher Wood Sent: Monday, November 02, 2015 9:21 PM To: Jay McGowan Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Hybrid Blue-winged x Cinnamon Teal Hi everyone, I think all the traits that Jay points out are conclusive that this is a hybrid. There isn't a transitional plumage of Cinnamon Teal that would ever show this extent of a white facial crescent, spotting on the sides or this amount of white where the flanks meet the rump. The cinnamon coloration is also diluted and not as bright. These traits are the ones to look for on Cinnamon x Blue-winged hybrid - a bird that is much rarer than Cinnamon Teal (though perhaps not in NY). Great find! Chris Wood Ithaca, NY On Nov 2, 2015, at 1:37 PM, Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu<mailto:jw...@cornell.edu>> wrote: The CINNAMON TEAL found yesterday is still being reported up to a few minutes ago. Some doubts continue, however, as to its purity as a few characters, including a pale face, some white on the flank, and indeterminately patterned sides may point to it being a Blue-winged x Cinnamon hybrid, but its transitional plumage make it hard to be sure. Higher resolution photos than we were able to obtain yesterday afternoon would be helpful to resolve this, so please post if you obtain any! For the moment, be warned that this is a possibility. Either way, this is a beautiful bird and well worth the trouble of going to look at. Also, I just noticed this report of a Glossy Ibis from October 16th. It must not have come through on the eBird rare bird alert because it was submitted more than a week after the sighting took place. This is very unfortunate because, although the images are somewhat poor, the overall coloration looks very good for a WHITE-FACED IBIS: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25558704 This was obviously a while ago, but we should still keep an eye out for this bird in the refuge area. -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu<mailto:jw...@cornell.edu> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
