Favoritos de gvbox

White Rock lake, Sunset Bay
Photo 1:
Odd Wood Duck
Wood ducks look strange when they change from their pretty breeding colors into their drab summer (eclipse) colors. But this duck is stranger still. It has both male & female characteristics. Not a juvenile, they have dull olive color bills. Male traits here are that colorful bill that remains even in summer and the colorful head crest feathers. Female traits are the brown eye instead of red, the shape of the white outlining the eye and the lack of a white chin strap going up the neck. Males keep the red eyes and white chin strap even in the summer.
Photo 2:
Another View Of The Odd Wood Duck
From every angle and when I lightened up colors all the way on the desktop briefly, that eye stayed brown. Pretty cool.

Photo 3:
Comparison shot of mine that shows 1 male & 2 female wood ducks in eclipse colors. Male eyes red, female eyes brown. male no white around eye and white chin strip and colorful bill. females white around eye, no chin strap and non colorful bill.
So, is this a gynandromorph or am I missing something?

Species:
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Features:

• Tan belly and head.
• Grey feathers.
• Black dots/spots on the feathers.

Weather:
Conditions - Sunny to Partly Cloudy
Temperature - 57 degrees Fahrenheit
Feel like temperature - 55 degrees Fahrenheit
High/Low - 61 degrees Fahrenheit / 43 degrees Fahrenheit
Wind - 0-4 MPH from the West
Humidity - 30%
Precipitation Estimate - 0.00 inches
Dew Point - 30 degrees Fahrenheit
Visibility - 10 Miles
Sunrise - 0634 EST
Sunset - 2003 EST

Other Species in Area:
Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

• Mainly stayed on the suet feeders. The woodpecker did not interact with the Mourning Dove.

General Notes:

• I observed the Mourning Dove for over twenty minutes. During that time, I noticed the dove mainly stayed and moved on the ground. Even when moving to a different bird feeder, the Mourning Dove moved on the ground. My guess for this behavior would be since the Mourning Dove is a larger bird, it has to exert more energy than other birds to generate flight. Instead of burning more energy, the dove moved along the ground.

At around 8 am, Gary Waayers and I started on a campground bird walk. Around a tenth of a mile from Site #71, roughly in line with site #77, two California Condors were seen perched in a dead tree slightly to the E. of the campground loop trail. The birds were seen by a small number of campers from a nearby site, and by Gary and me. The photos here that are backlit were taken at this spot east of the road. We later identified the birds as Pink 89 – full number 889 (“Narcissa”, slightly over six-year-old female – reference: Ventana Wildlife Society website), and Yellow 4 – full number 204 (“Amigo”, slightly over 24-year-old male – reference: Ventana Wildlife Society website). At around 8:45 am, Narcissa flew across the road to a Gray Pine tree with several Turkey Vultures in it within the center of this campground loop, close to campsite #66. She rested, moved around in the tree a bit, and then clambered up a limb of the pine, and finally took flight.

Pinnacles National Park Campground, California.

Second year by molt limits (third photo), male by plumage
The new (replaced) feathers on this bird appear black and fresh (not worn). The old (retained) feathers appear brown and worn. Here, there’s a molt limit in the secondaries, one in the median coverts, and a greater coverts vs. primary coverts molt limit.

Banded at Zuma Canyon Bird Banding Station for research purposes with federally-issued bird banding permits.