Drake Smew between a pair of Tufted Ducks
I had not seen a Smew for several years and never in Yorkshire, so when a drake was reported from Hornsea Mere, I just had to go! Makes me sound like a "twitcher" which I am not! A lot of the mere were still frozen and most of the wild fowl (thousands) concentrated around Swan Island. It took several scans to locate the Smew, which remained distant and dived frequently. The distance and light was never going to enable good images, but as it was my first Smew in Yorkshire, I am happy with record shots!
I managed to get Dabchick on my year list and then scanned for Scaup. Amongst the Tufted Ducks I spotted a good contender but it didn't look right! At first I thought Scaup until I noticed a "bump" on the top of it's head and my thoughts turned excitedly to Lesser Scaup but again it didn't look right! The bird could only be a hybrid. How dare duck species interbreed! It can be hard enough to identify the legitimate birds at times! Again, here are some record shots - what do you think?
Thoughts so far are Tufted Duck x Pochard or Scaup x Pochard.
My quest to year tick Scaup must wait!
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