If you subscribe to Minnesota Birding FB site, you've already seen these photos, but for those who do not follow FB, I thought I'd post them here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47388339@N06/22674960474/in/datetaken/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/47388339@N06/22676188093/in/datetaken/
I photographed this bird last Sunday at Brownsville Overlook. It seems to have characteristics of both the Tundra and Trumpeter. It has the yellow spot at the base of the bill and slightly concave upper surface of the bill typical of the Tundra, but it has the V-shaped border at the top of the bill characteristic of the Trumpeter rather than the U-shaped border characteristic of the Tundra. Adam Roesch pointed to a Sibley Guides article about Trumpeters with faint yellow spots, but the bird pictured there looks quite different. It has a small, dull yellow smudge rather than the distinct spot of the Brownsville bird, and the upper surface of its beak runs in a straight line from the head to the tip. The article suggests that hybrids exist but doesn't site a source: http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/07/trumpeter-swans-with-yellow-loral-spots/ So I'm wondering what people think of this bird. I have no reason not to think it is a Tundra, other than the sharp V-line of the beak. It was among all the migrating Tundras at the overlook. But I did not hear it vocalize, and I did not see its legs. Gerry Hoekstra Northfield ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
