Hope you can help me out here. I photographed this duck in a bird park at Coto Doņana national park, Spain. At first I thought it to be a female tufted duck, but while processing the photo I started to doubt because of the deviating color pattern of the feathers and the different eye color. Couldn't come up with an alternative from my birding book, however.
Kind regards,
Hi Steve, thanks for your response. Comparing photographs on the net of both mentioned ducks, I think I'll have to go for the female canvasback! Most female pochards I see have very light cheeks, a lighter beak and also the feather pattern visible in my image is lacking, while it is present with female canvasbacks.
Kind regards,
I agree. When I first saw the image I thought "Canvasback" mainly because of the look of the face produced by the "roman nose". Then I looked at the guides and convinced myself it could be a Pochard. Don't think so any more.
Waterfowl an Identification Guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world, Plate 36, page 97, image 117c is of an adult female Pochard. Its' plumage is identical to your image. Also the coloring on the bill is indicative of Pochard, slight blue behind the tip of the bill. The female Canvasback plumage is quite different from the bird in your image. I am not aware of the Canvasback being found in the Old World but I wouldn't say it can't be found there as an accidental.
Hi guys, thanks for all your input. To add some arguments to the discussion: both pochards and canvasbacks occur in Europe, with canvasbacks being the more common species. Note that we only get the red-crested pochard here (Netta ruffina). Also note that these species differ about 10 cm in size and the bird I photographed was quite small. Through this link you will find some photographs of red-crested pochards from our national species databank. I think the females look very different from my picture. The second link is to the canvasback in the same database.
Red crested pochard: http://www.nederlandsesoorten.nl/get...91&q=krooneend
Canvasback: http://www.nederlandsesoorten.nl/get...34&q=tafeleend