Hi all,
There is currently an eclipse male Redhead on Cape Clear Island,Co.Cork(found yesterday).While the time of year would mitigate against a wild origin,the bird was seen to be unringed and unpinioned today,and seems to show no anomalous features suggestive of hybrid traits.
Two photos are already on line at:
http://www.irishbirding.com/birdnews.html
and no doubt more will follow after today's big twitch(yes,I did go down to see it:sad,I know,but I'd never seen a Redhead anywhere in the world anyway,even in captivity(and of course it may yet be accepted onto Category A...)).
What I want to know is if this plumage is typical of eclipse males in America at this time of year,and how common(or otherwise)the species is in captivity?
Harry H
Harry,
You're right about this not being the best time of year for genuine American Vagrant ducks, but that Welsh Redhead has to spend the summer somewhere - maybe this is him!!
Darrell
Certainly looks right -- but I'm no expert.
Now he's probably pretty famous on your side of the pond (I've no idea) but thought it hilarious that the pix were taken by Steve WING. LOL!