--Male Cinnamon Teal, 5/13/07 Polk County, near Pembina SNA; 2.2 miles W of MN 32 on north side of Polk County 45, north edge of marsh (narrower east end of marsh). approx 5:00pm, sunny with some clouds, temp approx 85 deg, south wind 15-20mph.
Duck was resting on shore, bill tucked into back; motionless, distance of perhaps 100 yards. Used Leica scope, zoomed to 40x. What we saw was entirely cinnamon colored; perhaps some darker spotting on chest. Didn't realize how unusual until consulting Eckert book. If actually chest-spotting, might indicate a Blue-Winged/Cinnamon hybrid as mentioned in Sibley, but unable to see any other field marks to determine this. Hen teal (don't know whether Blue Winged or Cinnamon) next to it. Other waterfowl nearby: Blue Winged Teal, Mallards, Shovelers, Pintails, Gadwalls. 3 members of party have seen Cinnamon Teal in California; two have birded for 30+ years; one member has intensive 40+ years as a duck hunter, has never seen Cinnamon Teal in MN before. --Tricolor Heron, 5/14/07 Warroad MN, north edge of channel to Lake of the Woods, near intersection of Lake St NE and Riverdale Drive NE. Approx. 9:30am, overcast, approx 60 deg, sheltered from wind off lake. Bird flew in (being harrassed by Herring Gull); light chest and belly contrasting with dark uppers and neck obvious in flight and in water. Dark gray legs; dark purplish gray neck and head (did not observe lighter throat that Sibley shows) with tawny rear back (not sure what feathers these are in herons). White streak rear of eye, down neck. Med. bluish gray bill, black at tip. Foraged near cattails; seemed to be not as active as birds we've seen in Texas and Florida, but certainly more active than Great Blue. It seemed to be intimidated by Canada Goose staring it down, as it stayed back in the cattails out of our sight part of the time. Seen for aggregate of maybe 10 minutes; then it wandered around corner onto private property. First impulse was Tricolor, but didn't match anything in National Geographic seemingly; but Sibley illustration was dead-on except for not being able to see any white on throat. Jim Kiehne and Linda Fritschel 612-377-8037; kiehngraph at sihope.com Bill Cedarleaf (the duck hunter) and Linda Rolontz 612-827-3054; bcedarleaf at archinsurance.com -- Sihope Communications - The Twin Cities' FIRST all digital, all x2/56k ISP. Tired of Spam - Try an ISP with a solution - http://marvin.sihope.com
