red-breasted merganser?

[ebenezer]

This pair was captured at a considerable distance in poor light a couple of days ago. I reckon they're red-breasted merganser but all the colour has been leached out of them. Am I right?

Andrew

[barryhunt]

Hi ebenezer,

The bird on the left is a Goosander and although the bird on the right is not captured very well in terms of visible features, the similar size and structure would suggest a second Goosander. Nice birds

[Jynx_69]

male and female Goosander I reckon (male left)

[Dave Appleton]

Well I certainly agree the left hand one is a Goosander, but is it a male? It's a tough call to determine the exact colour of the head - perhaps it's only safe to say it's dark but to my eyes it looks more like it's dark reddish brown than greenish black. Also I think I can see a hint of a pale chin which would also point to it being a female (or young male).

So what about the second bird? Odds are it's going to be a second Goosander as more often and not they stay with their own species. But I have seen Goosander with Red-breasted Merganser, so it's not automatic. To me the right hand bird does look a wee bit smaller, and perhaps slimmer. Also the bill looks too fine for a Goosander, though I admit that's hard to be sure about from this image. The thing that really makes me think this bird is a Red-breasted Merganser though is the lack of a contrast between the dark head and the pale breast (which is so obvious on the other bird). Yes it could be in shadow and a bit hidden by the wing, but I'm pretty sure that if the right hand bird was a Goosander you'd be able to see the contrast here.

If you have any more images they might just nail it, but based on this one image my money's on one of each.

[ebenezer]

Here's another shot; (not much better) they've changed places though. It's the triple stripe that made me think merganser

[barryhunt]

That confirms Dave's thoughts, one of each, and nicely worked out Dave.

[PeterB]

I love it when this kind of forensic analysis works out. You learn so much. Thanks.

[ebenezer]

Many thanks for the analysis. It's nice to get one right, even if I got the other wrong. The stupid thing is that I see goosander regularly and should have spotted that they weren't a pair. Unfortunately most of Wednesday's shots were of similar quality which is a shame because there were masses of birds around. I was too late in getting out and the light was going fast.

Andrew

[Dave Appleton]

Ah, but I missed the fact that the Red-breasted Merganser is a MALE. Presumably a young male as the head & body plumage is female-like, but the wing pattern (and the beginnings of a white scapular bar) belongs to a male.

[Jynx_69]

That'll teach me not to bother trying to ID stuff on my tiny netbook! Nice one Dave