Slender Lorises, Duct Tape, and Whataburger: A Fish on Dry Land

My Sylvan Heights review was not ready to go before the weekend as originally planned, so it'll go up on Monday. Until then, I have a fun game as a teaser... Where's Waldo, Duck Edition! Vicariously live through my experience at the bird park by seeing how many waterfowl you can ID from this photo. This was taken in the Entrance Aviary, which has no geographic theme... so they could all be from anywhere :p

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Assorted Waterfowl - ZooChat
 
I immediately notice:

-Laysan Duck
-White-faced Whistling-Duck
-Northern Pintail
-Ruddy Duck
-Common Eider
-Hooded Merganser
-Canvasback
-Common Goldeneye
-Bufflehead
-Ringed Teal
-Freckled Duck
-Redhead
-Wood Duck
-Coscoroba Swan
-Wandering Whistling-Duck

I see a few others that might be some more species but I can't quite tell...
 
TeaLovingDave said:
It says a lot about my interests and priorities that my eye was immediately drawn to the Common Eider :p
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In fairness, they're pretty noticeable even among a flock of other ducks :p though on my first survey of the aviary I actually had some trouble finding them because they were hiding in the bushes! That photo was taken as I walked through again on my way out, at which point one of the eiders had moved into full view. Here's my first Eider photo:

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birdsandbats said:
I immediately notice:

-Laysan Duck
-White-faced Whistling-Duck
-Northern Pintail
-Ruddy Duck
-Common Eider
-Hooded Merganser
-Canvasback
-Common Goldeneye
-Bufflehead
-Ringed Teal
-Freckled Duck
-Redhead
-Wood Duck
-Coscoroba Swan (?, I think that's what the white one in the back is)
-Wandering Whistling-Duck

I see a few others that might be some more species but I can't quite tell...
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Pretty solid lineup... I believe you have most of them, but not quite all of them. Also, the one in the back I'm pretty sure is *not* Coscoroba Swan.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
In fairness, they're pretty noticeable even among a flock of other ducks :p though on my first survey of the aviary I actually had some trouble finding them because they were hiding in the bushes! That photo was taken as I walked through again on my way out, at which point one of the eiders had moved into full view. Here's my first Eider photo:

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Pretty solid lineup... I believe you have most of them, but not quite all of them. Also, the one in the back I'm pretty sure is *not* Coscoroba Swan.
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What is it then?
 
Having been to Sylvan plenty I know what the white bird is :D But I’ll let y’all have your fun.

Sylvan was always a park where it took me days to organize photos and list species. So best of luck but I’m sure you got plenty of lifers at that amazinh park.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
My Sylvan Heights review was not ready to go before the weekend as originally planned, so it'll go up on Monday. Until then, I have a fun game as a teaser... Where's Waldo, Duck Edition! Vicariously live through my experience at the bird park by seeing how many waterfowl you can ID from this photo. This was taken in the Entrance Aviary, which has no geographic theme... so they could all be from anywhere :p

full


Assorted Waterfowl - ZooChat
Click to expand...
What an impressive range within this image, it has definitely done the job of increasing anticipation for the review! :D

nczoofan said:
Having been to Sylvan plenty I know what the white bird is :D But I’ll let y’all have your fun.

Sylvan was always a park where it took me days to organize photos and list species. So best of luck but I’m sure you got plenty of lifers at that amazinh park.
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It looks like the ID 'nightmare' I never knew I needed!
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
I’m presuming the “coscoroba” is a domestic mallard.
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birdsandbats said:
The bill looks reddish to me, which would rule out a pure Mallard. It may be a Mallard x Muscovy Duck hybrid, though.
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You're both wrong, but I'm going to let it simmer longer in case someone else has a guess!

nczoofan said:
Sylvan was always a park where it took me days to organize photos and list species. So best of luck but I’m sure you got plenty of lifers at that amazing park.
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Indubitably! In fact, after I finished updating my life list with what I saw there (which took several hours on its own!) I found that out of ~90 waterfowl on my life list I visually confirmed or saw signage for almost all of them at Sylvan Heights; the only two I didn't were Black-necked Swan (which they held recently) and King Eider. I think about half my life list total for waterfowl ultimately came from there.

The photo organizing and species list was easily my biggest time sink of this thread so far... so hopefully people will appreciate all of the content once it's up! The species list is done and photo uploads are selected, it's just the review that remains unfinished now; I've been working on Sylvan Heights in bits and pieces as I've been posting stuff that took less time.

ChunkyMunky pengopus said:
It looks like the ID 'nightmare' I never knew I needed!
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My strategy going in was "just snap several hundred photos and sort it all out later", so I ended up getting quite a few of these multi-species flock photos in an attempt to get at least one photo of every bird possible :p
 
Great Argus said:
I'm going white form White-cheeked Pintail.
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birdsandbats said:
No that you mention it I think you're right?
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A pretty good guess, given that there *is* a white form White-cheeked Pintail at the park... but that is still not the correct species. The white form Pintail is in a different aviary.

I'll give you all a hint: it *is* a white form, and the bird has already been identified by someone... just not in the form of a guess for the white one.

Tetzoo Quizzer said:
And have we missed a female/eclipse Brazilian Teal?
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Great Argus said:
If we're looking at the same bird, I'm thinking more along the lines of Green Pygmy Goose.
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Tetzoo Quizzer said:
I’m sticking with my thoughts.
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birdsandbats said:
Which bird are you looking at? The one above the Laysan Duck?
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I think they mean the one on the left edge next to the bushes, with a white band and what appears to be a greenish hue? To be honest I'm actually not sure what that one is, I didn't notice it until just now and I have no other photos of it. Brazilian Teal and Green Pygmy Goose are both present at the park, but neither were signed for this aviary (though it could still be one of those, as the entrance aviary had at least a couple unsigned species).
 
Coelacanth18 said:
A pretty good guess, given that there *is* a white form White-cheeked Pintail at the park... but that is still not the correct species. The white form Pintail is in a different aviary.

I'll give you all a hint: it *is* a white form, and the bird has already been identified by someone... just not in the form of a guess for the white one
Click to expand...

It's a white form Wood Duck, should've gotten that off the bat. :confused:
 
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