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Goldeneyes they are. I was somewhat surprised to see a family of Goldeneyes at Birdland in North Hero while searching (unsuccessfully) for the famous Vermont Pelican a few weeks ago. I guess that Goldeneye breeders in the Champlain Valley may be more common than I had supposed. Bruce MacPhersonSouth Burlington -----Original Message----- From: Maeve Kim <[log in to unmask]> To: VTBIRD <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tue, Aug 20, 2019 6:07 am Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] identifying mystery duck We were stumped by five similar-sounding ducks last week: brown or red-brown heads, tail sometimes held stiffly, white patches on wing, white on throat or breast. With a little help from a friend and two guide book, we decided they were immature goldeneye. There are some poor photos at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58918335 <https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58918335> Maeve Kim, Jericho Center > On Aug 19, 2019, at 10:04 PM, R Stewart <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > *Need Help again* identifying a duck. Took some not so great digiscope > pictures which tend to show more contrasting color than bino or scope view. > > Deming Pond, S. Village E. Dorset, Bennington, Vermont, US > Aug 18, 2019 5:00 PM - 5:20 PM > Protocol: Stationary > Comments: At edge of pond with scope. Need help identifying duck > 5 species > > Mallard 2 Note blue speculum > Ruddy Duck 1 When I first saw this duck through binos, it was with 2 > larger ducks and was diving constantly. Of note was the stiff, long tail > seen when bird dove. Plumage was brown with what appeared to be a whitish > throat and belly. Five min later I was viewing it through my scope. Bird > was grooming, preening, stretching and flapping wings. There seemed to be > some white on wing primaries seen when preening. There was some prominent > flash of white in the area of the 'wing pit' - 020 jpg. altho. the > underside of the wing was dark. > Double-crested Cormorant 2 > Purple Finch 1 seen at nearby feeder > American Goldfinch 1 > > View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59118193 > > This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)