No day of birding is a bad day of birding, and despite the blustery morning, I just had to head out (and at least work off some of yesterday’s gluttony!) for a little while this morning. Since it is, afterall, the busiest shopping day of the year, I didn’t have too much time – as much as I wanted to, I wasn’t going to get to Wells to look for the 5 American Avocets reported yesterday – but a couple of hours are better than nothing.

Staying closer to home (as I will likely have to do most days for the next month of the holiday shopping season – not that I’m complaining about being busy at the store!) I ventured over to Winslow Park in South Freeport. While the woods were quiet (just the usual mixed flock of resident species), duck numbers are rapidly building offshore. There were lots of Bufflehead, Long-tailed Ducks, and Common Eiders. 2 Red-throated Loons, a lone Surf Scoter, and 24 Bonaparte’s Gulls were also seen.

At the point, 16 Dunlin and 6 Purple Sandpipers – a winter treat at in-shore Winslow Park - were on the exposed rocks, and then I spotted what I first thought was the first Barrow’s Goldeneye of the season. But, when a Common Goldeneye surfaced nearby, my supposed Barrow’s seemed to be about the same size (Barrow’s are noticeably smaller). I took a closer look.

The wings looked like a Barrow’s Goldeneye, featuring little white windows framed with black on the scapulars. There was the Barrow’s-esque black spur on the side of the chest. But, the head and bill shape were like a Common. The white face patch was reminiscent of the shark’s tooth-shape of the Barrow’s, but more rounded at the top and bottom, and much wider in between. Therefore, after a long (and rather chilly in that wind and 20 degree temperatures) study, I concluded that this was in fact a hybrid between a Barrow’s and Common Goldeneye.

I have seen such hybrids before, they’re not exceptionally rare (they’re pictured in your “Big Sibley” field guide), but this one was a bit odd, even for a hybrid. Previous hybrids that I have seen are often a bit more Barrow’s like in size and head shape, but more Common-like in wing and side pattern. This bird was essentially the opposite. While only a DNA test would confirm my hybrid conclusion, it provided a great study, and a good example of the lesson that I always preach about how much we can learn anytime we’re out in the field.