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Northern Shoveler X Blue-winged Teal (Anas clypeata X A. discors), Sweetwater Wetlands, Pima County

This Northern Shoveler X Blue-winged Teal was discovered and photographed by Andrew Core on 22 February 2012.  This bird was associating with shovelers and kept company with a female shoveler. There were Blue-winged Teal present at the wetlands, but they favor the east end and are rarely seen where this bird was in the west end.

Hybirds between Northern Shoveler and both Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal are not uncommon.  See here for a previous AZ report of a Shoveler X Cinnamon Teal hybrid. 

The white crescent on the face is shown by eclipse male shovelers and by hybrids with both Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal.  However the color of the rest of the head and the pattern on the body are clearly intermediate between Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler.  Bill size and shape, chest color and pattern (finely spotted gray), flank color and pattern (rufous with fine spots) are all combinations shown by neither parent. The legs appear yellow, not orange as in shoveler. Hybrids with Cinnamon Teal have completely rufous bodies without the spotting.  Also superficially resembles an Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis), but note that species has a more massive bill and a yellow eye.

22 February 2012, photo by Andrew Core

All photos are copyrighted© by photographer

Submitted on 22 February 2012

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