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Friday, November 20, 2015

 

Here are a couple of pictures of a duck I saw off Ruston Way in Tacoma this morning, while looking for the female King Eider.

 

 

 

It looks a lot like a goldeneye, but the colors are wrong.  The bill doesn’t seem right for either goldeneye species, either.  The head shape seems different in the two pictures, but I believe it is the same bird in each picture.

 

Is it maybe a hybrid of one of the goldeneye species with some other species?

 

While I’m at it, I saw this small falcon later today on the Brady Loop Road in Gray’s Harbor county.

 

At the time I thought it was a female American Kestrel, but after seeing my pictures, I now think it must have been a Merlin.  Any opinions on that, one way or the other?

 

You can see a report of my full day, including pictures of the female King Eider at http://www.barry15.com/2015_Birding_Reports/November.html .  You’ll have to scroll down a bit to today’s date.