[mou-net] Hovering Osprey May Have Been Light Phase Juvenile Rough-Legged Hawk.

[Keith Carlson]

It has been pointed out to me I possibly saw a Rough-Legged Hawk.   I
looked at Sibley and confess it could have been a light-phase juvenile
Rough-legged Hawk.  Eye stripe was pretty distinct so along with its
behavior that led me to ID as an Osprey.

-- Forwarded message --
From: Keith Carlson 
Date: Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 10:14 PM
Subject: Osprey Hovering
To: "MOU-NET@lists.umn.edu" 


On Jody Avenue just north of Withrow in Washington County, I enjoyed
watching an Osprey hovering over a waterlogged field for at least 40
seconds (time enough for me to grab my binoculars,make the ID, flip on my
car's flashers and start backing to driveway to pull off) before it spooked
and flew off.  I had forgotten over the winter that Ospey did this like Red
Tail Hawks along freeway right of ways when hunting rodents.

Keith Carlson
Roseville, MN


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[mou-net] Osprey Hovering

[Keith Carlson]

On Jody Avenue just north of Withrow in Washington County, I enjoyed
watching an Osprey hovering over a waterlogged field for at least 40
seconds (time enough for me to grab my binoculars,make the ID, flip on my
car's flashers and start backing to driveway to pull off) before it spooked
and flew off.  I had forgotten over the winter that Ospey did this like Red
Tail Hawks along freeway right of ways when hunting rodents.

Keith Carlson
Roseville, MN


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Re: [mou-net] Mottled Duck, Anoka Co. (hybrid vs. Pure)

[MOU admin]

(Posted by John Richardson  via moumn.org)

This post is in regard to the potential 1st State record MOTTLED DUCK. I 
contacted 
Tony Leukering, from Largo, FL who knows a bit about Mottled Duck.

His response is below, and I MUST stress his experience is with FL MODU, not TX 
MODO. However, I felt it would not harm the discussing or aid those charged 
with 
determining whether the bird in Anoka Co. is indeed a none hybrid individual.
This is not meant to provoke argument beyond good discussion and reasonable 
scientific debate.

"Hi John:
Sorry for the delay in responding, but I wanted to be clear in my head about it 
before replying.

First off, I have to write that I have little focused experience with western 
Mottled 
Ducks (MODU), and I'm not particularly clear in my own mind how they differ 
from 
Florida MODUs, and I would think that a MODU in MN would be more likely to come 
from TX than from FL, but who really knows?

This bird looks quite a bit like a MODU, and I am not surprised that it was 
identified as such, particularly the buff color on the face. One of the first 
points 
that I should make, though, is that knowing the age and sex would be very 
beneficial at determining the bird's parentage. Points that I feel are relevant:

1) If it is a male, then it looks too pale to be a Mottled Duck; if a female, 
then 
overall color might be fine for that species.

2) If a male and of "pure" parentage, it might be more likely to be a Mexican 
Duck 
than a Mottled, again due to overall coloration.

3) The gape spot seems a bit on the weak side for a male Mottled Duck, but may 
well be fine for a female and for, perhaps, male Mexican Duck (MEDU).

4) The dark streaking in the cheek and the gray basal coloration there are 
points at 
odds with an ID as a pure male eastern MODU, but might be fine for a western 
MODU of either sex.

5) I've had problems figuring out what this bird's tail looks like. There's 
certainly 
no obvious white, but I cannot seem to locate the whole tail. The bird is 
certainly 
replacing some body feathers (those blackish feathers among the uppertail covs 
and on the rump), but nothing in that genus should be replacing rectrices at 
this 
time of year.

6) Those aforementioned blackish feathers, particularly those on the rump, look 
far 
too solidly colored to be those of a pure MODU; see 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16207164@N02/5446301976/ and 
https://www.flickr.com/pho…/carolinabutterflies/13436098045/. Those feathers 
on 
male Mallards (MALL) are solid black, which may suggest that there is some MALL 
parentage involved here. Interestingly, the new uppertail coverts are perfect 
for 
MODU.

7) The white trailing edge to the secondaries is quite odd, with the individual 
secondary tips having white outer webs, but dark inner webs. In MODU (and 
MEDU), I believe that birds showing white tips have that white on both webs; 
again, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/16207164@N02/5446301976/.

All in all, I think that this is not a pure MODU, but has genes from something 
else 
involved, probably MALL. I asked Bill Pranty for his thoughts and he replied 
that he 
thought that it looked odd for a Florida MODU, but he has even less experience 
with western MODU than do I.

I hope that this helps.

Tony

Tony Leukering
Largo, FL
http://cowyebird.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_leukering/
http://aba.org/photoquiz/


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