A good day with Glaucs and hybrids

I started off at Malthouse and Ranworth Broads yesterday, hoping again to see the Ferruginous Duck-like hybrid and maybe that Scaupy thing I saw at Ranworth Broad last time and couldn't resolve.  There was nothing of note on Malthouse Broad, which was largely frozen over.  Nuthatch was calling, Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and about 20 Siskins as I headed over to Ranworth Broad.  As I walked out I was serenaded by a singing Mistle Thrush, Kingfisher flew overhead, and so did a Lesser Redpoll.

James Gilroy was there and had seen the Ferruginous-like duck in the channel on the right hand side.  Nice to meet James who had emailed me recently about the duck wondering if I had any insight as to what it might be.  I hadn't really, which was one reason I was keen to see it.  It appeared briefly while we were there, and didn't strike me as looking very much like a Ferruginous Duck - the shape looked good but it seemed to be dark brown, too dark and too lacking in ferruginous tones for even a female Ferruginous.  It was too brief a view though but after a fairly long wait it did eventually come out again, this time allowing a more prolonged view, although I didn't manage any photos.  The head and upperparts (especially the head) really are dark - I have never seen any suggestion that pure Ferruginous Duck can be that dark - or have I just missed it?  At some angles there even seemed to be a slight green sheen to the head - very subtle but I don't think I was imagining it.  I've seen a similar thing on female Tufted Duck before.  Structurally it did look pretty good most of the time - actually the head shape was peaked enough to resemble male Ferruginous Duck, not just female which tends to have a less obvious peak.  But sometimes - quite a few times actually - it looked a bit wrong.  Sometimes it seemed to have a bit of a bump at the back of the head.  Maybe the feathering at the back of the crown was a bit looser than the feathering at the back of the head just below?  At other times this wasn't apparent at all.

Some have suggested it may be a Ferruginous Duck x Baer's Pochard hybrid, apparently common in captivity although I gather DNA analysis of some birds thought to be that hybrid have proved them to be pure Ferruginous after all.  That's not a bad theory and explains the dark head and even the green sheen.  I'm a little surprised there's no Baer's influence in the shape of the belly patch, but maybe that's possible, and I'm not sure my problem with the head shape is really explained by Baer's.  Not sure.

Another possibility I contemplated is that Tufted Duck is involved.  That would in theory explain the head shape although female Ferruginous Duck x Tufted Duck hybrids I've seen before have had a more obvious tuft, albeit much reduced compared to pure Tufted Duck.  Those birds also weren't so structurally good for Ferruginous Duck.

So for now this one isn't resolved, at least not to my satisfaction.

Also on Ranworth Broad were 8 Goldeneye.  I noticed one Tufted Duck with quite a bit of white round the face that looked a bit block-headed for a bit and wondered if that was the bird I'd seen on my previous visit.  It was just a Tufty though, and one of sevearl with a fair bit of white round the bill.  One of them even had white behind the eye - a leucistic bird.

 Tufted Ducks, Ranworth Broad, 18th January

Mallards, Ranworth Broad, 18th January

Ranworth Broad, 18th January

Another 5 Redpolls flew over, this time with deeper calls making me wonder if Mealy were involved though they didn't provide good enough views.  Two Water Rails called and another Kingfisher made an appearance.

I next headed up to Sheringham where straight away I saw two juvenile Glaucous Gulls feeding on a dead seal.

 Glaucous Gull, Sheringham, 18th January

Glaucous Gull, Sheringham, 18th January

One of the Glaucous Gulls flew off east and I headed west to see if the adult Glauc was off the RNLI or that way.  No sign so I headed off to the east end of the prom pausing to look at a confiding Purple Sandpiper.

Purple Sandpiper, Sheringham, 18th January

While I was watching that I met Robin who had seen the adult towards West Runton so I continued on that way.  I hadn't gone very far when I picked up the adult Glaucous Gull and a juvenile flying towards me.

 Glaucous Gull, Sheringham, 18th January

They returned to the dead seal so so did I.

Glaucous Gull, Sheringham, 18th January

A Shag flew past while we were enjoying the Glaucs.

Shag, Sheringham, 18th January

I then drove to Cley ignoring the road closed signs (it was easily passable) where I learned that the sparrow flock had only put in a brief appearance at the Cley Spy feeders.  I walked on to Steve Gantlett's garden knowing that he had still been seeing the hybrid at least up to a few days ago.  After some waiting the anticipated House Sparrow x Tree Sparrow hybrid finally appeared at his feeders.

House Sparrow x Tree Sparrow hybrid, Cley, 18th January

I drove on to Blakeney where I noticed the Herring Gull x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid at the duck pond.  Presumably this was the bird that spent last winter here though I hadn't been aware that it had returned this winter.

Herring Gull x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid, Blakeney, 18th January

Bayfield Lake failed to deliver anything better than a Sparrowhawk.  I was nevertheless pleased to see 2 Peregrines in a tree towards dusk at another location.  Do unpaired Peregrines roost together, and if not do paired Peregrines at this time of year suggest they might be thinking of breeding nearby?  Dunno.  Perhaps not, it is only January after all, but will be interesting to keep an eye out for them again.

Peregrines, undisclosed location, 18th January

Today I only managed the local patch where the highlight was 26 White-fronted Geese remaining.

Lazy day birding mainly from the car

I headed up to the coast a bit late, getting Christmas shopping out of the way in Holt before 9.00 am.  I'd been planning to look at Brent Geese, especially hoping to see the Pale-bellied hybrid family, but it was a sunny day, and sunny days are the worst for looking at Brent Geese.  Subtly different shades of black are lost in bright sunshine, so I decided to leave that for another day.  At Salthouse I had a look for the white-headed Wigeon that Dave had seen in early November.  Easily located in exactly the same place as I'd seen it in at least two of the previous three winters.  And comparing photos with the previous years it clearly is the same returning bird, which of course means it can't be a first-winter male as I had previously assumed.  I think it's an intersex - have a look at this blog post to see why.

presumed intersex Wigeon, Salthouse, 23rd December

Some normal Wigeon there too:

Wigeon, Salthouse, 23rd December

Coot, Salthouse, 23rd December

Next stop Blakeney where the guy who owns the duckpond kindly invited me in to have a look round.

There were 2 Stonechat by the seawall north of the quay.

Stonechats, Blakeney, 23rd December

Reed Bunting, Blakeney, 23rd December

I couldn't find the Twite in the usual place, or the Lapland Bunting, but did get some Bearded Tits on the way back - at least 4, probably a few more.  Photographing them was nigh on impossible in the wind - surprised I managed even this:

Bearded Tit, Blakeney, 23rd December

This Shag was showing well at Wells Quay.

Shag, Wells, 23rd December

A Red Kite was over the estuary and later 2-3 Red Kites flew west over Holkham Pines.  I was going to have another look at the Red-rumped Swallow but it was further away than it had been yesterday so I didn't bother joining the crowd.  I did stop further up to see the Great White Egret though - it was below the trees where I'd seen a large-looking white egret drop into on Saturday - I'd been a long way off at Burnham Overy and only saw it for a nano-second so couldn't be 100% but I was expecting someone else would find it during the course of the week.

After a bit of driving around to find the Pink-footed Geese (which I failed to do) I ended up at Brancaster Staithe so popped in to see the Red-necked Grebe.  Thought with it being sunny I might get better photos, but alas it was miles off today.

Finally another Red Kite across the road as I came out of the fish & chip shop at Burnham Market.


Not sure if these were wild birds taking advantage of the provision of food at Blakeney or if they belonged in the collection...

Tufted Duck, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

Shoveler, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

These ones certainly weren't wild!

captive Smew, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Red-breasted Goose, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Cinnamon Teals, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

captive Blue-winged Teal, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

The Blue-winged Teal's mate looked purer than it did last time!  Pretty sure it must be the same bird but strange how different views give a different impression.  Last time it looked so spatulate-billed and pale-billed that I figured it must have been a Blue-winged Teal x Shoveler hybrid but this time it wasn't so clear.

captive Blue-winged Teal or hybrid, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December

The backcrossed Mallard x Pintail hybrid has matured a bit now - lost its immature feathers on the flanks etc. and grown its tail a bit.  The long centrail tail feathers (actually upper tail-coverts I believe) are still angled up away from the tail though, and widely separated, and of course the breast colour is the more obvious clue to Mallard involvement.

captive Mallard x Pintail hybrid backcrossed with Pintail, Blakeney Collection, 23rd December