Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 14:41:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fred Pierce Subject: Re: Re Scaup ID In-Reply-To: <3E89E66E.EB8C81B@comcast.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit and what about the hat? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Pierce (DNRC)- fpierce@avialantic.com Mid-Atlantic Aviation on the Web - http://www.avialantic.com ** Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend Airshow June 6-8 2003 - www.maam.org/maamwwii.html ** *** World Airshow News - www.worldairshownews.com ** --------------------------------------------------------------------- > -----Original Message----- > From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM]On > Behalf Of Sherry Peruzzi > Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 2:20 PM > To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM > Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Re Scaup ID > > > Well, that post was obviously an April Foodl joke -- everybody > knows that the female Lesser Scaup turns her eggs with the LEFT foot. > > And it should have said that a *healthy* Scaup lightens up with > age. Modern medications can help those who don't. Getting it to > vocalize for 50 minutes once or twice a week can further improve > its outlook. > > Sherry > > > "dw.holmes" wrote: > > > Thought this might be timely - > > > > Posted on OBOL (Oregon Birders On Line) today by Mike Denny > > > > "Sometime ago I had an outstanding discussion with a well known > western ornithologist concerning female scaup and how to separate > the three species in the field. His points are as follows: > > > > Greater-----The female is larger and more robust than say a > female bufflehead. The overall head shape including the residual > crest is much rounder than say a post ocular spot in front of a > female black-chinned hummingbirds eye. Last but not least is the > zygodactyl placement of the toes on birds hatched north of the > Peace River in Canada. > > > > Cordilleran-----This female is virtually identical in every way > to the female Greater say for the spastic pre-flight tail twitch > duly noted by Nedly & Epert 1986. There can also be some > noticeable discoloration along the ventral line due to this > species propensity for turning on its flanks to preen while > setting on sewage lagoons. > > > > Lesser----This species was recently found to be a cavity nester > and the notable process on the posterior surface of the skull was > discovered to allow the bird to place its head into the nest > chamber and push up while turning its eggs with the right foot, > thus it can retain its balance while perched on the lip of the > cavity. Eye color is also a reliable indicator of age in this > gender. Hatched with very dark irises these birds lighten up with age. > > > > Well that is it for now. Just thought you might want to know > this on this first day of April." > > > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================